Life Here After
by Tiger.Lily.Weasley.757
Summary: Sequel to Home. The adventures and obstacles of SVU's lead female detective with the boy she fought so hard to win.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi, people! I'm baaaack. I was going to wait a little longer to write a sequel… but this kept nagging at me. And guess what premieres tonight! (Shame on you if you don't know!) Season 13 of SVU! And also, Season 7 of Criminal Minds if any of you like that as well… Also, Prime Suspect (starring Maria Bello aka Vivian Arliss!) premieres on NBC at 10/9c… anyone else find it ironic that she's a cop on this show after SVU? Anywaaaay… This will either be a one-shot sequel, or the start of another story. You reviewers can decide. Everything goes to its rightful owners and I hope you enjoy!**

**PS. If you get updates about new chapters for Home, I'm going to be fixing little things in chapters, so don't get **_**too**_** excited ;-) **

"Are you sure this is the one?" A woman who was the owner of the apartment in question asked, turned to the pair.

The woman of the pair, who looked to be around forty with silky brown shoulder length hair turned to the shaggy brown haired pre-teen standing next to her. "What do you think?" She asked him. "Like it?"

The boy nodded his head eagerly, "Yeah, it's perfect."

She ruffled his hair to which the boy responded with swatting at her hand and ducking away playfully. "I like it too," She told him.

The apartment owner smiled at the sight. "So it's a deal?"

The woman smiled at the owner, "It's a deal."

"Great. All you need to do is fill out these papers, make the down payment," She drew an 'X' next to a line on the paper, "sign here and it's all yours."

The silky brown haired woman walked over to a table that was placed inside the rather spacious apartment's living area. She sat on one of the wooden chairs and started filling out the paper. The boy came over and sat across from her. He peeked over at the papers while she wrote.

"Hey," He protested, looking at what she had just written.

She paused the writing and looked up at him, startled, "What?"

"You put my last name as 'Arliss' again," He told her, a slight whine in his voice.

The woman laughed, "Sorry. I keep forgetting." She erased 'Arliss' and wrote 'Benson' instead next to the boys name.

The boy gave her an exaggerated look, "Olivia, I've been living with you for almost four months now. How can you _forget_?" He paused and grinned at her before answering his own question. "That's right, you're _old_."

The woman, Olivia, slowly looked up from the paper and stared down the boy.

He gulped.

"I'd be careful what you say while I'm holding this, Calvin."

The playful spark returned to the boy, Calvin's, eyes. "What are you going to do with a _pencil_?"

She raised her eyebrows at him before starting to write again, "You don't want to know."

"Yes I do," He insisted.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Calvin," Olivia warned.

"Olivia," Calvin mimicked in the same tone.

Olivia once again paused her writing and leaned across the table to whisper something into his ear.

Calvin's eyes became as round as saucers and he stared at the pencil like it was a snake. "Point made," He told Olivia.

"Thought so," She responded grinning while signing her name next to the 'X.'

She pulled out her check book and wrote down the down payment. She handed both the check and the papers over to the current owner.

"Thank you. And this is now yours," The owner handed Olivia the key. "It's all yours." With that, the owner walked out of the apartment.

Olivia looked over at Calvin who grinned at her. "It's ours?" He asked her.

"It's ours," She confirmed.

"Can we look around again before we leave?"

"Sure."

Olivia followed Calvin down the short hallway, which was off of the kitchen that was connected to the living area. Off of the hallway, the first room they came to was a spacious bedroom with a bathroom attached. This would be Olivia's room. The next door, a little further down the hallway, was a small bathroom, with a shower, toilet, and sink. This would be Calvin's and the guest bathroom. At the end of the hall, a smaller bedroom than the first, but still spacious, would be Calvin's bedroom. As they walked in, Calvin grimaced and asked, "How soon can we repaint it?"

The room was bright pink. "As soon as this weekend, we need to get it done before we can move your stuff in," Olivia responded.

"Can it be dark blue?"

"Whatever color you want. You ready to go?"

"Yep." They walked towards the door of the apartment and Olivia pulled out her key.

"What do we do now?" Calvin asked, walking out the door.

"Now we go grab the Chinese food I promised you for passing your test. Then we head back to our other apartment and finish packing up." Olivia pulled the apartment door shut and locked it; they went down the stairs towards their car.

"Sounds like a plan," Calvin told her, getting in the car. "Can I have orange chicken?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This chapter is rather pointless, but a good bonding moment between the two. The next chapter will have more of a plot! Everything goes to its rightful owners.**

_Beeeep. Beeeep. Beeeeep._

Olivia groaned and rolled over, her eyes still closed, and blindly reached over to her bedside table trying to find the correct button that would shut the obnoxious clock up. She sighed with relief when her hand finally came in contact with the correct one. Peaking through cracked eyes at the clock it read Six-Forty Five. She didn't even work today and she was getting up before the sun was even up. She and Calvin had to add the final coat of paint to his room today. Elliot had helped out and gone over a few days earlier with Calvin to cover the bright pink up with a white before Olivia and Calvin added the dark blue.

Olivia listened before getting up for any movement in the living room. Normally her alarm woke him up, but he seemed to have slept through it today. She decided to get up and shower before waking him.

Thirty minutes later, Olivia walked into the living room and smiled. Calvin was sprawled out on the couch with his mouth hanging open. She walked over and gently shook his shoulder.

He rolled over and whined, "Five more minutes, mom."

"No," She told him firmly, shaking him more. "You need to get up now."

He sighed and rolled over, blinking at her sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Seven-Thirty. We need to leave at Eight-Forty."

"Okay…"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After stopping for a quick breakfast at McDonald's, Olivia and Calvin made their way up to the new apartment.

"I'm really glad it's only on the third floor," Calvin huffed, while climbing the stairs.

"At least you'll get some exercise in everyday, you couch potato." Olivia told him with a grin.

"I don't need exercise," He told her as they walked into the apartment after Olivia unlocked the door.

"Can you grab the paint stuff out of the cabinets while I open the paint jars?"

"Sure."

After Calvin returned with the brushes and paint buckets, Olivia poured some of the dark blue paint Calvin had picked out into the two buckets. Calvin then handed Olivia a brush and grabbed himself one.

"So how was school last week?" Olivia asked when they started painting. She had worked rather late last night and by the time she picked Calvin up from the Stabler's, he was exhausted.

"It was fine," He responded shrugging. "I like science. Math, not so much, all the other subjects are okay."

"That's good. I liked science as a kid, too. But I also liked math."

He made a disgusted face at her. "I bet it's a lot harder now though. Elliot couldn't even help me with my homework. He had to get Dickie to help me. Dickie's really good at math though," He added.

"Show it to me when we get back and I'll see if I know how to do any of it."

"I really don't think you-." Calvin froze. When he said 'you' he had subconsciously pointed at Olivia with his paint brush. In the process of doing this, his freshly dipped paintbrush had splattered Olivia's face with blue paint.

"Oh," Calvin said trying not to laugh. "Sorry!"

Olivia wiped it off of her mouth and dipped her brush into the paint. "It's okay, _Calvin._" She flung paint back at him. It splattered across his neck. "Now we're even."

He looked down, shocked. He narrowed his eyes and moved to dip his paint brush back into the paint, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"Calvin," Olivia started, backing up.

"Olivia."

"Don't do it."

"Do what?" He asked innocently.

"You know what."

"You mean this?" He jumped forward and ran his brush down Olivia's arm before darting to the other end of the room.

"_Calvin Benson,_" Olivia mock yelled.

She put her brush behind her back and walked towards him. Calvin didn't notice.

He grinned at her. "You're starting to look like a smurf."

"Ha ha. Very funny."

"Well it _is,_" He insisted.

"Not as funny as _this_." Olivia pulled out her brush and smeared it across his face.

Calvin made to run towards the paint again, but Olivia grabbed his arms before he got too far.

She put his arms behind his back, still holding them.

"Olivia, that's not fair to use your cop moves," He told her whining.

She confiscated his paint brush and kicked it across the room.

He bent his head back and looked up at her with his blue smeared face. "Are you going to take me to jail now?" He teased.

Olivia kept quiet for a minute, thinking. "Or I could do this…" She ran her fingers along Calvin's side.

He tried to jerk away, laughing. "Olivia, tickling while being held is against the rules!"

"What rules? There are no rules." She tickled him more until he was in the fetal position on the ground.

"Uncle!" He yelled out, breathing heavily.

"No more painting anything but the wall, got it?" She released him.

"Got it," He told her, nodding.

Olivia walked over to where she had kicked his brush. She handed it back to him. They spent the next few hours finishing the room.

When they were done, they stepped back to admire their work.

"Not bad for amateurs," Olivia commented.

Calvin snorted, "You may be an amateur, but I'm an artist."

"Whatever you say, Picasso."

"I like the sound of that. What now?"

"Now… we go back and pack yet more stuff. Then we can start moving stuff in tomorrow."

"We're going to get Elliot to help, right? You and I can't possibly do it all."

"If Elliot doesn't mind, we'll definitely get him to help," She agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello! Thanks to everybody for the lovely reviews and alerts. I hope all of you enjoy your weekend! I will be spending all day tomorrow watching USA's "New to USA" SVU marathon. Super excited, haha. Did anybody watch the season premiere? I was super impressed, and really enjoyed it. Anyways, this chapter is pretty long compared to the others, so enjoy! Everything goes to its rightful owners.**

It was Sunday morning, just a little before Eight-Thirty. Olivia was finishing up a cup of coffee; Calvin was sitting on the floor in the living room reading cartoons. Today was the day that they would move all of their stuff that was in their old apartment, into the new one. The moving truck was already waiting outside, they were just waiting on Elliot and Dickie to get here and help.

After finishing the coffee, Olivia quickly walked through each room of the apartment, making sure they had everything. She went to the bathroom, grabbing all of their toiletries that they had kept unpacked until the last minute. She had just thrown them into a box by the front door when she heard a knock on the door.

Looking through the peephole beforehand, she quickly pulled upon the door upon recognizing who it was. "Hey, guys," She said greeting the two Stabler boys.

"Hi, Aunt Liv," Dickie said to her before walking over to sit next to Calvin. The two boy's fist bumped each other in greeting before putting their heads together and started talking about the comics.

Olivia pulled the door open wider so Elliot could come in.

"This place looks…"

"Deserted?" Olivia supplied. "Good, that means we did a good job."

Elliot chuckled. "Is the truck all loaded?"

"Mhm. We're ready, just need to stuff these last few boxes into the car."

"Alright. Dickie," Elliot ordered. "Grab two boxes and follow me to the car."

"Yes, sir."

Calvin jumped up, "You need me to help too, Elliot?"

"Sure. You grab two boxes too."

After each boy was carrying two boxes, Elliot grabbed the remaining three boxes.

"Need me to take one of those?"Olivia asked him.

"Nah, I got it. But thanks."

Olivia followed the three guys out of the apartment, pulling the door shut and locking it. "I'll go give the key to the owners; I'll meet you three at the car."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Calvin grunted as he carried the two boxes down the last flight of stairs. Maybe Olivia was right, maybe he _did_ need a little exercise.

"You alright, Calvin?" Elliot called out in front, noticing him struggle a bit.

"Fine," He huffed. "Are we almost to the car?" Calvin couldn't see straight in front of him because of the boxes.

"Just a little further, Cal," Dickie told him, encouraging him. "You're almost there…a little further…"

Calvin felt the boxes being taken from him. He sighed with relief as Elliot lifted them with ease and put them into the trunk of the car.

"My arms feel like jelly." He shook them out trying to get rid of the strange feeling.

Dickie laughed, "You look like you're doing an octopus dance or something."

Calvin shot him a look but laughed along with him.

Calvin felt hands clamp down on his shoulders from behind and yelped. He quickly jerked away and spun around. His irregular heartbeat immediately slowed upon seeing the owner of the hands, Olivia.

"Olivia," He whined, shoving her lightly.

She held up her hands in surrender while laughing, "Sorry, sorry." She turned to Elliot, "Everything ready?"

"It's all packed. Let's go."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Calvin's mouth dropped open as the movers opened the back of the truck. "We have to move _all_ of that up _three flights_ of _stairs_?"

"Well, the movers will help," Olivia responded, "But yes."

"Just kill me now," Calvin muttered to Dickie.

"Aw, come on, suck it up." Dickie said, shoving Calvin playfully.

Calvin swung his fist at Dickie in slow motion. Dickie grabbed it and pulled it behind Calvin's back, twisting his arm.

Olivia rolled her eyes, "Boys."

One of the movers walked over to them, "What's the room number? We'll start moving stuff up."

"105. Third floor," Olivia told the man. "I'll go unlock the door."

As Olivia started the flights of stairs, the two movers pulled the couch out of the truck and followed her.

At this point Dickie and Calvin were shoving each other around on the concrete.

Elliot shook his head at them. "Alright boys, time to get to work."

Both boys immediately stopped and followed Elliot to the truck. Elliot pulled out two boxes and gave each boy one. He then took two boxes himself.

Going up the stairs, they passed Olivia coming back down. She smiled at them and bumped hips with Calvin.

"Olivia, you're going to make me fall down the stairs!"

"I would never," She told him, poking him in the side before continuing down the stairs.

The guys made it successfully up the stairs and made their way into the apartment. The movers had just set down the couch and left the apartment.

"Alright, Calvin," Elliot looked at the box he was holding, "Yours says 'Olivia', so go put that one in Olivia's room. Dickie, yours says 'Calvin', so go put that one in the blue room."

Both boys nodded and went to go out their boxes down. Elliot put his in the kitchen area.

Olivia came through the door carrying three boxes, struggling to see around them.

Elliot quickly grabbed two of them from her. "How on earth did you make it up three flights of stairs, without killing yourself, with these?"

"One of a woman's many secrets," She responded grinning at him.

They both turned when they heard the boys come back down the hallway.

"You already look worn out," Olivia commented to Calvin, brushing the sweaty hair off of his forehead.

"Dickie told me if I carry more boxes, I'll get some muscles," He flexed his arm and turned to the adults. "You see any yet?"

Dickie laughed, "It takes longer than thirty minutes of working."

Olivia smiled at Calvin before shoving him towards the door, "Let's go get more boxes."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After goofing off, a lunch break, more goofing off, and three more hours of work, all of the boxes and furniture were inside the new apartment. After the movers left, Olivia and Elliot put together her and Calvin's beds.

Now Olivia was ushering Elliot and Dickie towards the front door. "Elliot, _go home._ It's already late enough, Calvin and I can do the rest," She insisted.

"Fine," Elliot told her, giving in. "But if you need any more help, call."

"I will. Thank you," She told him earnestly.

"Our pleasure, see you in the morning."

"See you, bye Dickie," She added as he followed his father out the door.

"Bye, Aunt Liv. Bye Calvin!"

"See you after school," Calvin called out from where he was sprawled on the couch.

After shutting and locking the door, Olivia turned and walked over to the couch. She plopped down next to Calvin, exhausted. "You should go get ready for bed, school tomorrow."

"Okay." Calvin got up and made his way to his new room.

Olivia stretched out on the couch and closed her eyes. She had just about dozed off when Calvin called out.

"Olivia, where's my toothbrush?"

"In the box that says bathroom."

A minute of silence, "I can't find-. Oh, never mind!"

Olivia laughed to herself.

Calvin came back a few minutes later, wearing basketball shorts and a baggy tee shirt. "You should go to bed too," He told her in a matter-of-fact voice.

"I will, eventually. Do you need something?"

Calvin shifted and mumbled something.

"What was that?"

He cleared his throat and said louder, "Can you come… say goodnight? And make sure my window is locked," He added on quickly.

Olivia's eyes softened and she smiled at him, "Of course." She got up and followed him to his room.

Calvin's room consisted of one window, his bed, a dresser, which they would fill with his clothes over the week, a small closet, and a desk.

Calvin jumped and then sat on his bed while Olivia checked the window.

"Okay, it's locked," She informed him, pulling the blinds down. She walked over to his bed, ruffled his hair and planted a quick kiss on top of his head, "Goodnight."

"Night," He responded with a yawn, rolling over and closing his eyes.

Olivia flipped his light off as she left, making her way back down the hallway. She pulled her coffee maker out of a box and set it on the counter for in the morning. She then turned all of the lights off, except Calvin's bathroom light, so he had some light flickering into his room. She walked into her room, quickly getting ready for bed in the bathroom before setting her alarm, turning off her own lights, and crawling into bed. She instantly fell asleep.

A few hours later, Olivia woke up with a strange feeling. She glanced at her clock: _1:45am._ She sat up and listened, wondering what woke her. She was about to lay back down, when she heard Calvin screaming down the hall.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: All of your reviews made me laugh for this past chapter. You guys are funny, haha. Anyways, this chapter sort of reveals what the plot will be about. And I don't really plan on writing any actual detective stuff in for Olivia… I believe that if Olivia had gotten custody of Calvin that the other detectives and Cragen would've tried to make her work load lighter. Let me know what you think of Mr. Wright! (No pun intended, didn't even realize that until just now.) Everything goes to its rightful owners, and enjoy! **

Olivia shot out of bed, grabbing her gun off the bedside table in the process, and ran towards Calvin's room. She frantically searched the room from the doorway, expecting to see another person in the room, but there was still only one occupant in the room. And he was thrashing in his bed, with his eyes closed, covered in sweat, mumbling things in his nightmare filled sleep.

Olivia's heart clenched. She set her gun down onto his desk before walking over to him.

He tossed and turned while mumbling, "Don't let them take me."

She sat on his bed and reached over to shake him, "Calvin."

He furrowed his eyebrows, still deep in the dream. "_I don't want to go with you!"_

"_Calvin._" She shook him harder.

His eyes sprung open and he started breathing heavily. His eyes were searching around frantically, trying desperately to sort out nightmare from reality.

"Calvin," Olivia said softly.

His crazed fear filled eyes focused on her. "Olivia," He whimpered.

She offered him a smile and she started rubbing small circles in his back. "It's okay, it was just a dream."

Calvin sat up, and Olivia pulled her hand back. He looked around the room, then back at her. Crawling over to where Olivia sat on the bed, Calvin leaned into her shoulder and inhaled slowly. "It felt so real," He whispered against her shoulder.

Olivia wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. "Shh," She whispered comfortingly against his hair, where she rested her head.

He burrowed further against her, "They were trying to take me from you."

"Who were?"

"People, only I couldn't really see them. They were shadowy."

She tried to pull back so she could look at him, but Calvin tightened his grip on her. "Calvin, look at me."

He pulled back slightly.

"No one, I repeat, _no one,_ is going to take you _ever_ again. Okay?"

Calvin nodded, giving her a small, watery smile.

She kissed his head. "Want to try to go back to sleep?"

"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" He asked laying back down, his eyes already drooping.

"Mhm." She leaned back against the headboard next to him.

"Olivia?" He asked, voice filled with drowsiness, while leaning his head on her shoulder.

"Yes, Calvin?"

He sighed contentedly, before mumbling, "I love you," and falling asleep.

Olivia smiled down at the boy, tucking away this memory. "I love you too."

She lay there a few minutes, before she felt her eyes start falling again. She shut them for a minute, getting ready to get up, but her eyes never reopened.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Olivia blinked, hearing a distant beeping in the distance. It stopped for a minute. She started to shift and froze feeling something weighing her down. Peeking an eye open and looking down, she discovered the weight on her left arm was Calvin, who had crept closer in his sleep, and was now curled up against her side.

She smiled down at the sleeping boy, recalling the three words he had told her last night. She quietly untangled her arm from him, being careful not to wake him, and got up to turn off her alarm. It was Six-Thirty Five in the morning. They needed to leave at Eight in order to get Calvin to school around Eight-Fifteen so he wouldn't be late for his school that started at Eight-thirty.

She walked back into Calvin's room, flipping on the light as she walked in. He grabbed his pillow and put it over his face while groaning.

"Rise and shine, sunshine, you need to eat breakfast."

"Five more minutes?" He pleaded.

"No."

He huffed, "Fine. Can you leave so I can change?"

"Sure thing, Mister Bed Head," She smiled at him teasingly before walking towards the door.

He ran his hands over his hair roughly. "Hey, Olivia?" he called out as she was about to leave.

She turned, "Yes?"

"Thanks for… last night."

"Anytime, kiddo."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After dropping Calvin off at school, Olivia made her way to a new coffee shop down the street before heading into work. Parking her car, she got out and walked towards the small café. When she reached for the door, someone pushed it open in a hurry, nearly bumping into her.

"Oh, excuse me. I'm very sorry. Guess I should come earlier next time so I'm not almost running people over in a hurry."

Olivia focused on the owner of the voice. He looked to be around her age, with dark brown hair and green eyes. "No, no, it's fine, really." She moved to walk into the café when the man started talking again.

"Hey," His eyes focused on her face intently. "Do I… know you from somewhere? You look familiar."

"I don't think so…"

The man's green eyes suddenly lit up. "You have a kid enrolled in the middle school, don't you?"

Olivia nodded suddenly wary, "And you are?"

The man set down his briefcase and reached out to shake her hand. "Marcus Wright. I'm the middle school principle. I recognized you from the pictures in your child's file."

Olivia shook his hand. "Olivia Benson. Calvin's in sixth grade." She paused, "They have…pictures… in the files?"

"Yeah," Marcus told her shrugging. "It's a new system the school district wants to try, something about knowing the students and their parents better."

"Ah, I see. Does it work?"

"Not too much, I didn't know your name, did I? It doesn't help that there are over five hundred kids in the school."

"No, but you recognized me. That counts for something. But if you'll excuse me, I need to see if there's anything I want before heading to work."

"Of course," He looked down at his watch. "And if I don't get going I'm going to be in trouble with myself." He flashed Olivia a charming smile. "Until next time, Miss Benson."

Olivia returned his smile before walking into the café. She inhaled deeply before walking over to the counter. She glanced at the menu and ordered a large coffee. It came within a minute. Olivia thanked the worker before walking out of her café and got back into her car. She took a sip and thought to herself, _I'm going to have to come here more often._

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ten minutes later, she was walking into the precinct. She greeted Elliot who was already sitting and his desk.

"What's into you this morning?" He asked curiously, noticing a change in her behavior.

"What do you mean?"

"Well for one, a normal morning consists of you walking in, me telling you 'Good morning', and then you just grunting a response. You then walk into the break room to get some coffee and usually don't talk until you get it in your system."

Olivia held up her cup of coffee, "Picked it up before work this time."

"Where'd you get it? It smells good."

"It _is_. It's from the café a block from Calvin's school."

"Mm. Might have to try it sometime."

Captain Cragen came out of his office.

"Any cases yet?" Olivia asked him.

"Negative. All is quiet."

"It sure has been boringly quiet these past few weeks," Elliot commented.

"I'm not complaining," Olivia told him. "It's easier for Calvin and me."

"Oh, I'm not complaining either. Just observing, my family loves it too."

"More paperwork it is then." Olivia and Elliot sat at their desks and got to work.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Olivia sat outside Calvin's school in her car. The school bell rang and she watched as sixth through eighth graders filled out of the school. She spotted Calvin walking out with a couple of boys his age. Calvin saw her, said bye to his friends and made his way over to their car.

"I wasn't expecting you to pick me up today," He told her with a grin.

"I finished all the paperwork for today early."

"Hmm."

"Was school okay?"

"Yeah, it was alright."

"You have a lot of homework?"

"No, just a little science."

"That's good." She glanced at Calvin and he was staring out the window, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's cool."

Olivia wasn't anywhere near convinced, but she let it drop. She would ask him about it later.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello! I don't normally update two days in a row like this… but for those of you not on Twitter, Warren Light (SVU's showrunner) announced that Calvin will have a "turn" in episode 5 of season 13, and maybe more later. How exciting is that! I'm so pumped. So without further adieu, here is chapter 5. Everything goes it its rightful owners. **

Later that night, Olivia was sitting at the table in their living room, checking her emails. Calvin was sitting quietly across from her, finishing his homework. She glanced at him as he pulled down the collar of his shirt some, scratching at a spot. Her eyes zoned in on a nasty looking bruise. "How'd you get that?"

"Get what?"

"That bruise on your chest."

He glanced up at her, "Someone bumped into me at school." He went back to his homework.

"Hmm, okay. Does it hurt?"

"Not really." He put his homework into his backpack by his feet. "I'm going to go to bed."

"Alright." She smiled as he came around behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck quickly before heading to his room.

She knew something was up, and the detective in her wasn't about to just let it go.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next morning, everything went normal. Calvin was back to his normal talkative self.

"Hey, mom?" He called out, walking into the kitchen from the hallway.

Olivia was leaning against the counter, finishing a bowl of cereal. "Hmm?"

"Are you picking me up again today?"

"Probably not… Aunt Kathy will probably be picking you up today."

He nodded, "Okay."

"Is that okay?"

"Yeah, I actually needed to ask Dickie something."

"Good." They both grabbed their things they would need for the day. Calvin his backpack, Olivia made sure she had her gun, badge and cell phone before heading out the door.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After dropping Calvin off at school, Olivia decided against going to the café this morning, instead going straight to the precinct.

She rushed through her paperwork, getting more than normal done.

Elliot noticed this, "Why are you going so fast? Big plans for tonight?"

"If you count ordering take out and helping Calvin with his homework big plans, then yes."

"Seriously, what is it?"

Olivia looked up at her partner, "Calvin's been acting strange. I'm heading over there at lunch, making myself cozy in the café with a pair of binoculars, and seeing what's up."

Elliot laughed, "You're treating Calvin like he's a suspect."

"I want to know what's up. He always eats lunch outside of the school with his friends."

"Mind if I tag along?"

"I'd actual be very grateful if you did."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

At the detectives lunch break, the two detectives made their way into the café and sat down and one of the small tables near the window that face the school. They each ordered one of the café's lunch plates, and a cup of coffee.

Kids started coming out of the school, carrying lunch trays or bags. Olivia looked through the pair of binoculars trying to spot the familiar brown haired boy.

"Olivia."

"You see him?"

"Yeah," Elliot responded. "Three o'clock."

Olivia looked in that direction and sure enough, there he was. He was sitting at a table with two of his friends.

"Looks normal to me," Elliot told her.

"May I ask why you're watching my students?" A joking voice said behind the pair.

Olivia turned; it was the principal, Marcus Wright.

"We're, uh, investigating," Olivia told him with a smile.

Elliot sat there looking between the two.

"Oh, Elliot," Olivia said. "This is Marcus Wright; he's the principal at Calvin's school."

Elliot stood up and shook the man's hand. "Elliot Stabler."

Marcus nodded at him. "Pleasure to meet you." He looked in the direction the detectives were looking at. "Watching Calvin?"

Olivia nodded and returned to her watching.

"Well I hope you find what you're looking for."

She turned and flashed him a smile, "Thank you."

Elliot watched him walk to the cashier before turning to Olivia and raising his eyebrow.

"What?" She asked him.

He shook his head, laughing quietly. He returned to his watching. "Hey, look."

Olivia looked through her binoculars. A group of three kids were approaching Calvin.

"What are they doing?" Olivia asked no one in particular, beginning to frown.

The group stopped behind Calvin and said something to them. Calvin ignored them and continued talking to his friends. The head boy of the group yelled something at Calvin and shoved him. He fell off the table bench.

Olivia made to get up and go rescue Calvin but Elliot grabbed her arm. "What the hell, Elliot?"

"Liv, if you go over there and rescue him it's just going to get worse."

"I can't just sit here and watch."

"You're the one who wanted to find out," He reminded her.

Olivia sat back down and picked back up her binoculars. The group had walked off, and Calvin's friends were helping him up. The warning bell rang and everyone started to filter back inside. She watched Calvin's back disappear into the school; his friends still sending him worried glances.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When the work day was over, Olivia gave Elliot a ride to his house.

"So," Elliot started. "You and the principal, huh?"

She snorted, "Please. We just met."

"Doesn't matter, he's already crazy for you."

She gave him a look, "I don't believe you, and besides, aren't _girls_ supposed to notice these kinds of things?"

Elliot sighed, "A man learns things he doesn't necessarily want to when he has three daughters."

They pulled up to the Stabler house. Calvin and Dickie were wrestling in the front yard.

"I hope you boys finished your homework," Elliot called out to them, getting out of the car.

"We did, dad." Dickie responded to his father.

Calvin said something, but neither detectives could make it out, Calvin's face was currently pressed into the grass by the older boy.

"Dickie, let him up," Elliot commanded.

Dickie rolled off of Calvin as Elliot and Olivia walked towards the house. Olivia watched Calvin worriedly for a second before following Elliot into the house.

"Hey," Kathy said, greeting them warmly upon seeing the two walk in from the kitchen.

Elliot gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "How was your day?"

"It was good. What about yours?"

Elliot shrugged, "Same."

He reached for a cookie that was sitting on a plate. His wife swatted his hand, "Not until after dinner." She glanced into the living room before turning to Olivia. "Is everything alright with Calvin?"

"Has he been misbehaving?"

"No, no, no." Kathy told her quickly. "Nothing like that, he just…well, today, he asked Dickie if he could teach him how to defend himself. But it wasn't their usual rough housing. He was completely serious."

Olivia sighed, "Calvin's been getting picked on at school. I just found out today…I went snooping," She admitted.

"Kids these days," Kathy muttered. "I don't see how anybody could pick on him, he's so sweet."

The conversation stopped as Dickie and Calvin walked in the room. Calvin walked over to Olivia and shot her a smile.

Olivia put a hand on Calvin's shoulder, "Hey, buddy."

Calvin winced, "Hi."

Olivia removed her hand and shot Elliot a glance. She turned back to Calvin, "You hurt yourself?"

"Yeah…must've just played too hard with Dickie."

"I never touched your shoulders," Dickie pointed out.

Calvin gave him a dirty look.

"Calvin?" Olivia questioned.

"It's nothing."

"Don't tell me it's nothing. I know about those three boys," She told him quietly.

Calvin looked horrified. His glare at Dickie intensified.

Dickie raised his hands in surrender, "I didn't tell!"

Elliot looked sharply at his son, "You knew?"

"Calvin made me swear not to tell! I was going to tell if it got too bad."

"Calvin…" Olivia was unsure about where to start.

"I'm not talking about it." Calvin grabbed his backpack off of the kitchen table and stormed outside.

Olivia sighed, "Guess that's our cue to leave. Thanks for watching him again, Kathy. I'll see you tomorrow, El."

"Good luck."

Olivia walked out the door and spotted Calvin leaning against the car, his head down.

Olivia got into the car without saying anything to him; he would talk when he was ready. Calvin followed suit.

A few minutes passed in silence on the way back to their apartment.

Calvin broke the silence. "Are you mad at me?" He asked quietly.

"No," She answered truthfully. "I just don't understand why you didn't tell me."

"I can't tell you."

Olivia glanced at him, "Why not?"

He gave her a look, "I don't want to."

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Calvin nodded, "But not this."

"Calvin-."

"_No._"

Olivia let the subject drop. She knew he was just as stubborn as she could be. She picked them up a pizza before pulling into the apartment parking lot for the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hi! I can't believe this is already chapter six. Wow. Anybody catch the new SVU last night? I absolutely love the new detectives :-) And I love the feel of the show this season. LOVE. Anyways, I promise this is the last bad thing that happens to Calvin. **_**Promise.**_** One of my lovely reviewers (Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell) has started her own Calvin story, and she asked if I could be the beta for it. It's super amazing so far and it's called Absent Love! So go check it out if you like this story! Even if you **_**don't**_** like this story (which if you didn't, why are you even reading the sixth chapter? Ahem. ;-)), you should still go read Absent Love. Also also, someone once asked me (don't remember who it was) if Olivia had officially adopted Calvin yet. I said no and that it's coming soon, but I'm going to have to take that back and say that it's already happened. It's just not going to fit with this story. Perhaps I can write a flashback scene, I apologize! I'll stop talking now. Enjoy chapter six (Review if there's something specific you want to see and I'll see what I can do!) Everything goes to its rightful owners. **

The next few weeks passed in a blur- Calvin went to school, Olivia went to work. Work was still quiet; the paperwork seemed to be never ending. Fin and Munch did get a case, but they were about to close the case. Olivia went back to the café a few times; she hadn't run into Marcus Wright again. This disappointed her slightly and she didn't understand why. Perhaps it was that she hadn't met a man that had seemed interested in months. She had just met the guy, but he seemed so…_right._ She chuckled to herself at her own little joke, how ironic.

She was currently sitting on the other side of the pickup lane from Calvin's school, waiting to pick him up. It was Friday; she always tried to get off early so she could spend the evening with him. Tonight, their plans were to go see a movie. They didn't have one picked out; they just showed up at the theater and looked if there was anything good playing around the time they got there. It was Calvin's idea; he had told her it was all, "part of the fun." She had to agree with him.

The school bell rang right at Three-thirty. Students started rushing out of the building. She spotted Calvin walking out, looking around for her car. She moved to put her hand on the horn to honk at him, but then stopped. The group of boys that shoved Calvin were walking towards him. With the windows in the car rolled down, and with the boys being only about fifteen yards away, Olivia could her exactly what they said. She watched the scene unfold.

One of the boys, who seemed to be the 'leader,' tapped Calvin on the shoulder. Calvin glanced over his shoulder. The boy grabbed Calvin's backpack from his arm, throwing all of its contents on the ground. The bully's friends started laughing.

Calvin did nothing, only bent down to gather his things. The bully looked at Calvin with hate, "I'm going to put you through exactly what your little mommy put me and my family through."

Only at this did Calvin look up. "What are you even _talking_ about?"

"Your mom, the detective, she busted my dad. My mom is never home now, she's barely making what we need working two jobs."

Calvin looked at the boy sadly, "I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

The boy cut him off, "Now I'm going to bust _you_ up." He nodded at his friends, who advanced forward and starting kicking Calvin.

Olivia threw the door open and attempted to jump out before almost being choked by her seatbelt. She fumbled with it for a minute before finally being able to click it into releasing her. She glanced across the lane before running across it. A couple of parents and teachers were trying unsuccessfully to break up the fight. The boys seemed intent on doing some damage.

Olivia pulled out her badge a few yards away, "Police!"

The boys froze in fear immediately. They scrambled away from Calvin before being stopped by several teachers. Olivia glanced around for the head boy, but he was nowhere to be seen. She would worry about him later, instead she quickly kneeled down by Calvin, who was curled up in a ball on the ground.

"Cal?" She asked quietly but softly. She placed a hand on his shoulder when he didn't respond. He immediately groaned.

"Calvin?" She rolled him carefully onto his back. The lower part of his face was covered in blood; from what Olivia could hope was only from his nose.

He peeked up at her; his eyes were filled with tears. "I think my arm's broken."

"Which one? Does anything else really, really hurt?"

"My left one. My side hurts."

She then noticed the way he cradled his left arm to his chest. Olivia lifted his shirt slightly, his side was extremely bruised, but none of his ribs were broken that she could tell. "Can you sit up for me? We need to get you to the hospital."

Olivia put her arm on his back and helped him into a sitting position. He nearly fell backwards; Olivia put more weight on his back to keep him from falling.

"Sorry," Calvin mumbled, shutting his eyes. "I got dizzy."

"You have nothing to apologize for," She told him firmly.

She looked up at the teachers who were waiting by. "Does someone have a phone?" One of them pulled out a cell phone. "Call an ambulance, please." The teacher nodded and walked a few feet away to talk into the phone.

From the corner of her eye, Olivia saw someone come around from behind the school. Turning her head more, she saw Marcus Wright, who had a firm grip on the head boy, walking in their direction. When he got closer, the handed the boy off to another male teacher and walked over to her. He kneeled next to her looking at Calvin with worry, "Is he alright?"

"Broken arm, bruised ribs, possible concussion, ambulance is on the way," She responded with a sigh.

"I am so sorry," He told her truthfully. "I wish I could have prevented this. I will be in contact with the boys' parents immediately."

She nodded and then heard a siren in the distance. She turned her head and watched as the ambulance pulled up to the school. The paramedics got out with their stretcher and walked over.

One of the paramedics knelt next to Calvin and checked his pulse. He looked at Olivia, "Are you his mother?" When Olivia nodded, he asked, "What happened?"

"Three boys started attacking him. Kicking and punching, his arm is definitely broken, but I couldn't tell if any of his ribs were. He also might have a concussion."

The paramedic nodded at her and gestured for his partner. They quickly lifted Calvin onto the stretcher and walked him over to the ambulance. Olivia followed them.

Marcus trailed behind her, "Would you like me to bring your car over?"

"No, I'll call and ask my partner to do it. But thank you for the offer." Olivia saw disappointment flash across the man's eyes before she jumped into the ambulance and the doors were shut.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Almost an hour later, Calvin was admitted into a room at Mercy Hospital. The nurses confirmed Olivia's theory and had given Calvin a temporary sling for his broken arm until it was time to put his cast on. They were still awaiting the results of his x-ray to see if any of his ribs were broken.

"Hey, Liv," Fin said casually, walking into the room.

"Fin?" She asked confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought your car for you. Munch and I had to be here anyway, finishing up some last things on our case."

"How'd you get it here? Pick up the spare key from Elliot?"

"Not exactly, let's just say I didn't use any keys."

Olivia looked at him highly amused, "You hotwired my car?"

"I did what I had to do." He looked over at Calvin, "How's the arm?"

Calvin ignored the question, "Can you teach me how to hotwire?"

Fin opened his mouth when Olivia cut in laughing, "Out." She pointed towards the door.

Fin winked at Olivia before stage whispering to Calvin, "Maybe later." He waved at them both before leaving the room.

A doctor walked in with Calvin's x-rays, and a nurse followed her in with the plaster for the cast.

"Good news," The doctor said, looking from Olivia to Calvin. "No broken ribs, just very bruised. Also no concussion."

Calvin groaned from the bed and the doctor looked over at him. "Are you in pain?"

Olivia answered with a smile, "I told him if one of his ribs were broken, I would give him Monday off from school. Sorry, kiddo."

The doctor laughed, "I see. What color would you like your cast to be?"

Calvin looked thoughtful for a few seconds, "Red."

"Red it is."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It was late afternoon by the time Olivia and Calvin walked through the door of their apartment. With Calvin sporting his new red cast. He was flaunting it around like it was medal. Olivia was dozing off on the couch when Calvin walked in from his room.

"Hey, mom?" No answer.

"Mom?" He asked more loudly. Still no answer. He walked over in front of the couch. "Olivia."

Her eyes opened groggily.

"Can we go to your work tomorrow so Fin, Munch, and Captain Cragen can sign my cast?"

"Sure," She mumbled before rolling back over.

Calvin grabbed a blanket off of the edge of the couch and gently covered Olivia; a difficult thing to do with only one hand but he managed.

"Night," He told her softly before going to his room.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hiya. So we're nearing the end of this story… I have it all plotted out and I'm hoping to finish up actually writing it out this week. There should be at LEAST two more chapters left. I just want to take the time to thank you all for the reviews, and even though I personally respond to all the reviewers with accounts, I want to thank all of my anonymous reviewers too. THANK YOU :-)! I promise nothing else will physically harm Calvin too. It only gets better from here. Reviews are very welcome because I'm making myself finish my homework before writing anymore (ARGH!) So leave me a review to help me get through it! ;-) Enjoy, everything goes to its rightful owners. **

Olivia sat at her desk watching the boy she loved more than anything with a smile. He was currently going around the whole sixteenth precinct, recruiting anybody who would sign his cast. Nobody could resist him. She couldn't blame them. He walked over to her with a grin on his face. "Look how many people have signed it!"

"Wow, look at that. Wait till you tell everyone at your school those are all _cops._"

"Well…minus the Stabler's, not counting Elliot," Calvin pointed out.

"That's true. But still, you have at least, what, thirty signatures?"

"Thirty-five," He corrected.

"Oh, excuse me. I think you're missing a signature though."

Calvin furrowed his eyebrows. "Who? I searched the entire building!"

Olivia looked at him expectantly.

"Can't you give me a hint?"

Olivia continued looking at him. "She's staring right at you."

Calvin looked around. "You're the only girl in here…" He trailed off. He then spun back around to her quickly. "_You_ _haven't signed my cast yet!_"

Olivia laughed, "Nope. You have a sharpie?"

He pulled a back sharpie out of his pocket and handed it to her. She uncapped it and wrote down her name on the red material.

"You should add something," Calvin suggested.

"Like what?"

He thought for a second, "Hmm… a heart?"

She smiled gently at him, "Alright." She drew a little heart next to her name. "Better?"

Calvin nodded in satisfaction, "Perfect."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Monday morning rolled around and Olivia was taking Calvin to school. Only unlike every other school day, this time she wouldn't just be dropping him off. They had a meeting with the principal before school started.

Calvin fidgeted nervously while he walked next to Olivia towards the principal's office. He kept messing with his cast.

Olivia wrapped a reassuring arm around his shoulder. They neared the office Calvin stopped when they reached the door. She paused.

"Are _they_ going to be in there?" He asked.

"Yes. But they're not going to touch you," She assured.

"How do you know?"

"I won't let them. Plus this time I have my handcuffs," She added jokingly.

"And your gun?" Calvin asked innocently. He then saw the look she gave him, "Just in case."

She rolled her eyes with a smile and opened the door, "Go on, you."

Calvin walked in then waited for Olivia. The room had a large desk where the secretary sat, and there was an adjourning door that led to the principal's office.

Olivia walked to the desk with Calvin following her. "May I help you?" The secretary, who was an older lady with a kind face asked.

"Yes," Olivia answered. "We have a meeting with the principal. I'm Calvin's mom," She added.

"You can take a seat over there," The secretary gestured to chairs outside the principal's office. "Mr. Wright is currently talking to the other boys and their parents. He'll be done shortly."

Olivia nodded, "Thank you." She and Calvin went to go sit in the chairs.

"At least you're not the one in trouble this time," Olivia commented to Calvin.

"I promised I wouldn't do that anymore, remember?"

"I remember, just trying to look on the bright side of things."

"Yeah… principals are mean though. I don't like them."

"Have you even ever met yours?"

"No, but they're all the same."

"Yours is actually quite nice," Olivia told him.

He stared at her, "How do you know?"

"I've met him. At a coffee shop."

"You went on a date with him?" Calvin asked confused.

Olivia blushed slightly. "_No._ I just ran into him there."

"Why are you blushing?"

"I'm _not_ blushing."

"Yes you are."

"No."

"Yes you are. Olivia, your cheeks are _pink._"

The principal's door opened. Olivia stood up and Calvin followed her example. The boys and their parents walked out of Marcus Wright's office. One parent and her son glared at Olivia as they walked by, the next just completely ignored her. Then a blonde came out of the office, with the 'leader' following her. She spotted Olivia and walked over to her, her son following. Olivia felt Calvin tense next to her.

"I'm so sorry," The mother of the boy told her, surprising Olivia. "I knew the situation at our house had put pressure on everyone, but I didn't realize it was this bad. I didn't realize Jerry," She gestured to her son. "Even knew you were the one who arrested my husband."

Olivia nodded, unable to think of the words to say.

The son, Jerry, stepped towards Calvin. He stared down at the ground, "I'm sorry I beat you up and broke your arm."

"I forgive you," Calvin responded quietly. "You want to sign it?" He held up his cast.

Jerry looked up surprised. "Me?"

"Yeah." Calvin held out a sharpie.

Jerry smiled slightly and took the marker, quickly scribbling his name onto the cast. Then he and his mom left the room.

"Benson's?" Principal Wright called from his office.

Calvin walked into the office with Olivia on his heels.

"Please, have a seat."

Calvin looked around the office. He spotted a signed baseball bat on the wall and his eyes lit up.

Marcus Wright followed his gaze, "You like baseball?"

Calvin nodded.

"Who's your favorite team?"

"I don't really have a favorite…although the Texas Rangers are doing great this year."

"They are." Marcus turned to Olivia, "All three boys have been suspended from school for a month. They also have three weeks of detention if they return."

"If?" Olivia questioned.

"The mothers were considering transferring their sons."

Olivia nodded. "Is that all?"

Marcus nodded, standing up. He walked over and shook Calvin's good hand.

Calvin gave him a smile before walking out of the office. Olivia moved to follow when Marcus Wright called her name.

"Uh, Olivia…" She turned. "I was wondering, I know this isn't exactly the best time, or even the most appropriate time, and I know we don't even know each other that well but…would you, like to get lunch with me sometime?"

Olivia's heart started speeding up. She nodded, "I'd love to."

A look filled with relief flooded Marcus' face. "Tomorrow? At the café?"

"Sounds good, I'll see you then," She told him softly, walking out of his office.

"See you then," He echoed as she left.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Olivia walked into the precinct, still wearing the smile she had ever since she left Marcus Wright's office.

And of course, Elliot noticed as soon as she sat down at her desk. "How did the meeting go?"

"It went really well," She responded, already starting her paperwork for the day.

"Uh-huh. Anything interesting happen?"

She glanced up at him and shrugged, "Not really. Should something have happened?'

"I _know_ something happened."

"It's none of your business, Elliot."

"I knew it." He told her smugly. "When is it?"

"When is _what?_"

"Your date with Marcus Wright."

"Liv has a date?" Fin asked, walking in.

"Of course," Olivia muttered cursing.

"With who?"

"Calvin's principal," Elliot told Fin.

"What's his name?" Fin asked. "I'll run a background check."

Olivia groaned and put her head on her desk.

"Marcus Wright," Elliot answered. "W-r-i-g-h-t."

"Nothin'," Fin told them after a minute.

"Are you two done now?"

"Not until you tell us when it is."

"Tomorrow at lunch. Now quit harassing me."

"Harassing?" Elliot looked at Fin. "I wouldn't call it harassment, would you?"

"Nah. Just being concerned for a friend. That's not a crime last time I checked."

"A friend who can take care of herself," Olivia insisted.

"We were just taking precautions," Elliot told her grinning.

"Elliot?" Olivia said going back to work.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up before I shoot you."

Elliot laughed before letting it drop.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Here is chapter 8! The date… I'm honestly not a fan of writing romance. I love reading it, it just seems when I try and write it down it never…works. Let me know if it's alright! Once again you should go check out Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell's **_**Absent Love**_**. I beta it and it's amazing :-) Enjoy chapter 8, everything goes to its rightful owners! **

The rest of Monday went by agonizingly slow for Olivia. She kept trying to tell herself it was just a little date; it wasn't anything to be getting this excited over. But she couldn't seem to convince herself. Calvin picked up on her behavior chance during dinner Monday night.

"You're doing it again," He told her, popping a chicken nugget into his mouth.

"Doing what?" She asked him after taking a sip of water.

"Smiling because of nothing, you've done it at least three times today."

"Hmm."

"So what're you smiling about?"

"Nothing," She smiled at him.

"Aw, come on," He whined.

"You _really_ want to know?"

"Yes."

"You _really really_ want to know?"

"_Yes._"

"I have a date tomorrow."

Calvin wrinkled his nose. "Ew."

"Told you."

"Who do you…have a date with?"

Olivia laughed quietly. "Not telling you yet."

"That means I know him right? Or her," He added.

"Him, definitely a him," She provided. "But I'm still not telling you anything."

"Hmph. When can I know?"

"When I tell you."

"Fine," He told her groaning.

Olivia quickly changed the subject. "Did you get all of your homework finished?"

"Yes. Dickie only had to help me twice."

"Great job."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

If Olivia thought Monday was going slow, compared to Tuesday, Monday was like a race car. Like usual she dropped Calvin off at school, and headed to work. And of course, Elliot wouldn't leave her alone.

"Why must you do this to me?" She finally asked, unable to ignore him any longer.

"Not every day you have a date. It's what brothers do to their sisters."

"I'm kind of glad I don't have any full siblings sometimes."

"I'm sure you are… where are you going for the date?"

"Confidential."

"You afraid we'll follow you or something?"

"Wouldn't surprise me one bit."

Elliot faked a hurt expression then laughed, "Good point. Okay, all joking put aside. I'm really happy for you, Liv."

She narrowed her eyes at him, expecting another joke to come. When one didn't, her expression softened and she smiled at him, "Thanks, El."

"What does Calvin think about all of this?"

"I haven't actually told him yet."

He glanced at her, "Why not?"

"It's only the first date. I don't even know if it'll work out."

"You still should've told him."

"Too late now, I'll tell him if it works out."

"Okay."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Lunch time rolled around and Olivia was nervously waiting in her car outside of the café for Marcus to show up. Her mind kicked into overdrive. _What if he doesn't show up?_ She asked herself. _Don't be silly, why wouldn't he?_ Glancing at the clock she assured herself he had two minutes to get there before being considered 'late.' A knock on her car window pulled her out of her thoughts and made her jump.

Marcus stood there, wearing an apologetic smile.

She turned off her car and got out.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He told her.

"No, no, I wasn't paying attention."

"Shall we?" He gestured towards the café.

Olivia nodded and followed him to the door. Marcus quickly walked ahead of her, grabbing the door and holding it open for her in the process. "Thank you," She said smiling, stepping through the door.

"My pleasure, and order whatever you want. It's on me."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded.

"Well alright." They both ordered the lunch special: a turkey sandwich with a cup of coffee. Marcus paid for their meal while Olivia went and picked out a table.

He flashed her a smile when he sat down at the table. "So, do you have in family in the area?"

"No, it's just Calvin and I. What about you?"

He nodded, "My parents live about twenty minutes away. And I have two sisters, one older, one younger, they both live in the area as well."

"That must be nice," She commented.

He grinned, "At times, I suppose. They always want to know everything about my private life."

"At least they care," Olivia said smiling.

"That's a good point. Is Calvin your only child?"

"Yes…he's my adopted son."

"Adopted?" He questioned. A waitress brought their food and coffee.

"Long story short, I met Calvin's mother on a case. She's made some choices that are not wise. Calvin was in a situation that wasn't appropriate. So I adopted him, I was completely smitten with him."

"That's really neat. How long have you had him?"

"Uhh…legally, four months now. Do you have any kids?"

"No, I do have four nieces and nephews though." His eyes lit up, "I love them. Three girls and a boy, I try to do something with them every other weekend."

"Aw," She took a bite of her sandwich.

"You know what I do, I know you're a cop, but what department do you work in?"

Olivia swallowed her bite of sandwich before answering slowly, "Sex Crimes, Special Victims."

"Sex Crimes?" He repeated.

She nodded.

"How is that?"

"Hard," She answered truthfully.

"How long have you been working there?"

"Over thirteen years," She answered with a sigh.

Surprise flickered through Marcus' eyes, "Why so long?"

"Someone needs to do it. I like to think I'm actually helping a little bit."

"I'm positive you are."

Olivia wanted to know more about him now, "What do you spend your time doing when you're not being a principal?"

He ran a hair nervously across his sleek brown hair. "It's pretty boring," He admitted.

"Go on," She urged.

"I'm a big reader. I like going to the movies as well if there's something good. I enjoy walking my dog," he added.

"You have a dog?"

He finished the last of his sandwich before answering, "Mhm. Abby, she's a Golden Retriever."

"How cute, Calvin's been dropping hints about a dog, it's not going to happen."

"You don't like dogs?"

"I don't have anything against dogs; they're just a lot of trouble with Calvin plus my job."

"I understand completely." Marcus' phone started ringing. "Do you mind?" He asked her.

"Not at all."

Marcus answered his phone at the table and Olivia took this time to study Marcus out of the corner of her eye. His short but not cropped dark brown hair was darker than her and Calvin's hair. His vibrant green eyes stared intensely out the window while he was talking quietly into the phone. He was wearing white dress shirt, with a deep blue tie, and black dress pants. He cleared his throat after his shut his phone.

"I'm so sorry," He started. "They need me back at the school."

"Don't worry about it," She reassured him. "This is actually one of the few dates that I wasn't called back into work."

He smiled softly at her. "We should do this again."

"I'd like that."

"Until next time, Olivia." He stood up, bending down to kiss her cheek, and then with one more smile at her, he left.

Olivia bit her lip, feeling a smile grow across her face.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After returning to work for the remainder of the afternoon, and being pestered by Fin and Elliot that she preferred not to think about, she was waiting to pick Calvin up.

He came out of the school a few minutes after the bell rang. Spotting her, he made his way over and got in the car. "Hey," He told her cheerfully.

"Hi, buddy. How was school?"

"Good but weird," He answered.

"Why weird?" She questioned.

"Principal Wright was unusually nice to me."

"Really?" Olivia asked slowly.

"Yeah…oh! So who was your date with?" He demanded.

She bit her lip.

"Olivia?"

"It was with… Marcus."

"Marcus? Who's Marcus?"

"Marcus is…Principal Wright's first name." She glanced at Calvin at the red light.

His face remained motionless. "You had a date with my principal?"

Olivia nodded.

"Oh." He didn't say anything more.

Olivia just let him think it over. They pulled up to their apartment and climbed the stairs in silence. She unlocked the door and Calvin walked in, went to his room, and slammed his door.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi, hi, hi. How are you all? Good I hope? Two more weeks till Charlie Tahan (Calvin Arliss) makes his first appearance in season 13! I'm so excited. Like, there are no words to describe my excitement without going on and on and on… Anyways, here is chapter… 9! I already have chapter 10 written and ready to go, and it should be up Friday/Saturday. Enjoy, everything goes to its rightful owners! **

Olivia sighed as the door slammed. She was hoping for a more positive reaction; but she certainly hadn't ruled out that kind of reaction. She walked down to his door and knocked. "Calvin?"

"Go away," Came his muffled response through the door.

"Cal, we need to talk about this."

"I don't _want_ to talk about it!"

"Can I come in?"

No response came so Olivia slowly pushed open his door and peeked in. Calvin was sitting on the edge of his bed, his back to the door, and his arms were crossed. She walked over to him.

"I don't want to talk about your stupid boyfriend," He muttered angrily.

"Hey," She told him softly, carefully sitting next to him. "He's not my boyfriend. It was just a date."

"But you like him don't you?" When Olivia didn't answer he looked up at her, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "_Don't you?_"

"Yes, I like him. But why are you crying?" She wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

Calvin sniffed, wiping his nose with his sleeve, "Once you start really liking him you're going to forget all about me."

Olivia looked down at her son in surprise. "Calvin," She scolded softly. "How could I forget about _you?_"

"My mom did," He told her miserably.

_Vivian_, Olivia silently cursed the woman inside her head. "I'm not your mom," She said trying to reason with him.

Calvin looked at her, smiling slightly despite still being upset. "Yes you are," He pointed out.

Olivia smiled at him, the boy who could find something humorous in any situation. "You know what I meant."

"You promise you won't forget about me?"

"Infinity and beyond promise," She told him seriously.

He nodded and leaned into her shoulder. "What's he like?"

"Whom?"

"Mr. Wright. What's he like outside of school?"

"Oh. Well… he's very nice."

"And?" Calvin prompted.

"He has a dog."

Calvin perked up at this, "A dog? What kind?"

"Golden Retriever, her name is Abby."

"So when you two get married, does that mean I can finally have a dog?"

Olivia's eyes widened. "Who said anything about getting married?"

"No one," Calvin said innocently.

"Slow down, we've only had one date."

"When's your next one?" He positioned to where his head was in her lap so that he was looking up at her.

"How do you even know there's going to be a second date?"

"I didn't." He grinned, "But then that blush on your face told me."

She smacked his arm lightly, and his whole body started shaking with laughter. He turned serious after a minute and asked, "When do I get to meet him?"

"You've already met him, Calvin."

"Not as your boyfriend."

She gave him a strange look. "What do you mean?"

"I have to meet him as your boyfriend."

"Why?" She asked curiously.

"Elliot told me last week, while you were at work, that if you ever got a boyfriend I had to scare to living daylights out of him."

She made a point to have a talk with Elliot tomorrow. "Why would he say that?"

"Something about the 'Boyfriend Approval Process,' he said he does it to his daughters boyfriends."

"You are not my father," She pointed out. "You will not be scaring the living daylights out of anybody."

"Party Pooper," He told her pouting. "But seriously, when am I meeting him?"

"I don't know. When do you _want_ to meet him?"

"Before your next date together."

"That could be arranged."

"Good."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next day at work, Olivia beat Elliot to the precinct. _Lucky him_. She turned her chair towards the entrance and waited for him to come in.

Munch was the next one to arrive. "How was your date?"

"Who told you?"

"Word travels fast." When Olivia narrowed her eyes at him he admitted, "Fin."

"Uh-huh. It went very well."

"I'm glad." He went and sat at his desk.

Fin showed up next. "You look like you're about to shoot someone," He told her as he sat at his desk.

"I wouldn't go as far as shoot."

"Stabler must be in trouble."

"You could say that. I just need to have a little chat with him."

Fin and Munch exchanged glanced.

Captain Cragen came in third; he went straight to his office without a word.

Finally, the man Olivia had been waiting for walked through the door. He walked over to his desk, completely oblivious to his partner that was following him with her eyes.

He looked over at Munch and Fin who were watching him. Then he turned to Olivia. "What?"

She said nothing, only narrowed her eyes at him.

"What did I do?"

"Does the 'Boyfriend Approval Process' sound familiar to you?" She quoted.

Realization dawned in Elliot's eyes. He laughed, "Did Calvin actually do it?"

"No, he told me before he even got the chance to meet him."

"Aw, man."

"Why would you tell my son to do such a thing?"

He looked over at her, "I was mainly kidding around. I didn't know he'd take it completely seriously. But, I hoped it would help Calvin approve."

"How would it help him approve, exactly? Calvin seemed to approve right after I mentioned Marcus had a dog."

"I don't really know, Liv. It just _works_ with my daughter's dates. If the guys come back after I scare them a bit, I know they must really care for my daughters."

Olivia's expression softened, "Well thank you for the gesture. But next time please ask me about it before you put these crazy ideas into my boys head."

"Sure thing," He said with a smile.

"Olivia," Cragen said, opening his door. "Someone's on the phone for you."

She glanced at Elliot before picking up the phone at her desk, "Benson."

"_Uh_," A familiar voice said through the phone. "_Olivia, hi, its Marcus. I'm sorry to call you at work but I didn't get your cell number yesterday…_" He trailed off.

Olivia smiled, "Marcus, hey. No, it's alright. Work has been extremely dull. Is Calvin alright?"

"_No, I mean yes, Calvin is fine. I actually called you about something else._"

"Yes?" She asked. Elliot raised his eyebrow at her with a grin and she chucked a pen at him. He ducked and it barely missed him.

"_Yesterday was really, really, great. I wanted to know if maybe you could do dinner with me on Friday?_"

"Friday… I'm sorry but Calvin and I usually do dinner and a movie on Fridays. It's kind of a tradition… but you're welcome to join us," She added, hoping he would say yes.

"_Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude…_"

"I don't mind at all. How about I double check with Calvin and then I'll let you know?"

"_Sounds great, I'll possibly see you then._"

She laughed slightly, "Bye." She hung up the phone.

"It hasn't even been twenty four hours and he's already thinking about date two," Elliot said to her with a grin. "He sounds serious."

Olivia's heart sped up slightly at his words but she kept her expression calm, "We'll see."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hello! Chapter 10 is hereeeee! Yay! I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. If you happen to get bored, or if you have Twitter, you can follow me (xxKKellyxx5.) I'm bored 80% of the time and would love to tweet it up with all of you! ;-) Let me know who you are so I can put Twitter usernames with Fanfic review names! :-D Enjoy, everything goes to its rightful owners! **

Olivia purposely stayed at work longer than usual doing paperwork so she could think how to approach Calvin with this. She hoped he accepted this better than he did accepting the date yesterday. She left work about seven and headed over to the Stabler's. Elliot had left about two hours earlier.

When she got to the house, she walked to the door and heard laughter from the inside. She smiled before knocking on the door. After a few seconds, she heard the door being unlocked and it was pulled open. "Hey, Olivia," Kathy greeted her with a grin. "Come on in." She stepped through the front door into the living room. "Calvin's in the kitchen with Elliot." Olivia followed Kathy into the kitchen and smiled at the sight that she saw.

Calvin was sitting at the rectangular shaped table with Dickie to his right and Elliot across from the two boys. But this isn't what had made her smile, rather the potato peelings that were all over the table, floor, and a few that had somehow managed to get into Calvin's hair. Elliot looked up at her, "Hey, Liv."

Calvin twisted around in his chair to look at her, "Hi, mom, can we stay for dinner?"

Olivia walked over and picked the potato peelings out of his hair, "Are we invited to stay for dinner?"

"Of course," Elliot told her.

"You're more than welcome to," Kathy agreed while taking a dish out of the oven. "All of the kids are out except Dickie."

"Well?" Calvin prompted, leaning his head backwards to look up at her.

"Sure, we can stay."

"Yes!" Calvin grinned excitedly.

"Can I help with anything?" Olivia asked looking over at Kathy.

"Nope, everything's about finished, but thank you. Elliot," She added, "You need to clean up that mess you made with the peelings."

Olivia raised an eyebrow in question at her partner.

"We were peeling the potatoes and one of mine flung across the table," He explained. "Needless to say, a competition followed suit."

"I won!" Calvin piped in cheerfully.

"Just because you couldn't almost chop off your fingers with that cast," Dickie told him.

"I would have won without it too," Calvin defended.

"Would not have."

"Would too."

"Not."

"Too."

"Not."

"Too."

"_Boys,_ please, clean up your mess."

"Yes, mom," Dickie said hurriedly, starting to pick up the peelings. Calvin followed suit.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After dinner, they were all sitting at the table, just talking.

"So, Liv," Elliot started. "Don't you have something to ask Calvin?"

Calvin, along with everyone else, looked up at her in interest.

She glared slightly at Elliot before turning to her adopted son, "Marcus wanted to know if you minded if he tagged along with us on our Friday movie night."

"Mr. Wright?" Calvin asked.

Olivia nodded in confirmation.

Calvin looked thoughtful for a minute, "Sure, I don't mind."

"Are you sure?" Olivia asked him, "He doesn't have to come if you don't want him to."

"No, I really don't mind."

Olivia smiled at him softly, "I'll be sure to let him know he has your approval."

"I never said he had my approval," Calvin said flatly.

Elliot and Kathy shared amused glances while Dickie tried to hold in a snort.

"But you just said…"

"I said I didn't mind him coming," Calvin corrected. "That doesn't mean he has my approval yet."

Olivia shook her head at Calvin, "Well alright, I'll tell him you don't mind him coming along then, okay?"

"Okay," Calvin said with a smile.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next day, Olivia had promised Calvin she would pick him up since she had stayed at work later. She got there extra earlier so she could go in and talk to Marcus. Getting out of her car, she walked towards and into the middle school. Her heart started beating slightly faster as she opened the school office door.

"Miss Benson," The secretary greeted kindly, remembering her name. "How can I help you? I don't recall Mister Wright saying anything about Calvin coming to his office."

"I'm actually here to see... I'm here to talk to Mister Wright," Olivia told her awkwardly.

"Oh, well please, go right in."

"Thank you." Olivia walked over to his office door before opening it quietly and peeking her head in. Marcus was staring at his computer screen when he noticed her staring there. Surprise flickered across his face briefly before his face broke into a charming smile, "Olivia."

She smiled at him before cracking the door and walking in further, "Hey."

"What're you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you," He added quickly. "I just wasn't expecting you."

"Well, I'm here picking up Calvin, so instead of calling you I thought I would just come tell you myself that Calvin said he wouldn't mind if you tagged along on Friday."

Marcus' eyes lit up, "Really?"

Olivia nodded, "If you still want to come, that is."

"I'd love to come."

"Great, well I better go back outside…" Olivia started heading towards the door.

Marcus stood up and grabbed his jacket, "I'll come with you."

She offered him a smile as he opened his door for her, "Okay."

They walked in comfortable silence out to her car that was parked across the pickup lane. Olivia turned and leaned against her car so she could watch for Calvin, Marcus followed her example.

Marcus broke the silence, "What time do you normally go to the theater?"

"Usually right after school," Olivia responded, glancing at him.

He nodded, "Alright. I can follow you over there, or I could pick you and Calvin up and then we could go over there."

"Let's meet there, that way you don't have to drop us off."

He looked down and smiled gently at her, "I don't mind dropping you and Calvin off, Olivia."

Olivia looked into his eyes, "I know. But Calvin… I don't want to make this too much for him."

"I understand. Alright, we'll meet at the theater."

Olivia, not being able to help herself, glanced down at his lips then back to his eyes. He leaned towards her slowly, and was about an inch away from her lips when the school bell went off, starling them both. Olivia cleared her throat and shot him an apologetic smile. He reached down and squeezed her hand softly.

Olivia looked back towards the crowd of kids coming out of the building and spotted Calvin walking over. He eyed his principal before crossing the pickup lane and coming to stand by Olivia.

"Hey," She told him warmly wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "How was school?"

"It was good," He told her with his eyes on Marcus.

Marcus grinned at Calvin, "Just because I'm the principal doesn't mean you have to act like you like school when you're around me. Besides, school is over."

Calvin looked back at Olivia, "School stunk," He told her truthfully. "It was boring."

Olivia and Marcus laughed and Calvin smiled.

"That's more like it," Marcus told Calvin, his green eyes bright after laughing. "I appreciate you letting me come along with you on Friday."

Calvin nodded, "No problem."

"Well I should get back," Marcus looked at Olivia, "I'll see you Friday."

She smiled at him, "See you then."

"See you tomorrow, Calvin."

"Bye." Calvin turned to Olivia after Marcus had left. "Can we go now?"

"Yep, get in the car," She responded, ruffling his hair before jogging over to the driver's side before he could swat her.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hello! How are all of you? Good I hope? Here's the date chapter, let me know what you thought, PLEASE. I would highly appreciate it…and you could get a…virtual hug? Hehe. As always, everything goes to its rightful owners. And be sure to let me know if you have Twitter, I'd love you chat with you! AAAAND check out the ever so awesome Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell's SVU story, **_**Absent Love**_**. It's awesome :-) I think that's all I have to say… enjoy!**

_Where is that darn bell?_ Olivia thought to herself. It was Friday afternoon, she was sitting outside the middle school waiting for Calvin, and the bell was two minutes late. _Two whole minutes, some people have plans tonight._ She stopped herself and laughed, _I'm so anxious for tonight I'm mentally getting mad at a bell._ She made herself take a deep breath. The bell started ringing. _Thank you_, she thought, smiling to herself. She spotted Marcus leaving the building and heading towards the Employee's parking lot. He spotted her sitting in her car and waved. She waved back. The passenger door opened and she jumped before relaxing.

"What has you so strung up?" Her favorite eleven, soon to be twelve, year old asked.

She started the car and pulled away from the pickup lane, "Oh, nothing."

Calvin looked over in the direction she was staring in before getting in the car. He saw Mr. Wright pulling out in front of them. "Oh," He grinned at Olivia.

"Shut it, punk," She muttered to him playfully.

"Please keep your lovey dovey eyes to a minimum tonight," He said with a smirk.

"_What?"_

"And no making out in the theater, there could be children in the theater."

"_Calvin._"

His smirk grew bigger, "Don't play footsie and whisper things into each other's ears once the lights go down."

Olivia just groaned, choosing not to respond anymore, it only made things worse. She pulled into the theater and parked next to Marcus' car.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Calvin slowly got out of the car and walked over to where Olivia and Mr. Wright were talking. He stood next to Olivia and stared at his principal quietly. "Hey, Calvin," Mr. Wright said to him warmly.

"Hi, Mr. Wright," Calvin said courteously.

"You can call me Marcus, Calvin, it's alright."

Calvin nodded, "Okay."

An awkward silence followed. "Should we head towards the theater?" Olivia offered.

Marcus nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets before falling into place besides Olivia. Olivia grabbed Calvin's arm and pulled him along with a smile.

"Olivia, I know how to walk," Calvin told her, pulling his arm out of her grasp, but keeping it linked with hers.

"Oh I know, I would be highly worried if you didn't." She studied the movies that were playing tonight once they reached the ticket booth. "Your birthday is in a month after all."

Marcus looked over to Calvin with a smile, "Really? How old will you be?"

"Twelve," Calvin responded proudly.

"Twelve?" Marcus whistled. "Wow, that's how old I was when my pop took me to my first baseball game."

Calvin looked at the ground, "That's cool. I've never been to one."

"I'll have to take you sometime; you think you'd like that?"

Calvin's head jerked up and his eyes were sparkling, "Really? That'd be so _cool._"

"Of course, Olivia can even come along." Marcus responded with a glance at Olivia.

Olivia opened her mouth to answer when Calvin cut in, "Olivia doesn't like baseball. She leaves the room whenever I watch it on TV."

Marcus laughed, "That's alright. You and I can go sometime then, if your mom's okay with that."

Calvin looked up at Olivia with hopeful eyes. "We'll talk about it later, Cal. Let's decide what movie we're going to see."

Calvin looked up at the choices, "Can we _please_ see Captain America? Please?" He begged.

Olivia glanced at Marcus, "Is that okay with you?"

Calvin looked to his principal with puppy dog eyes.

The man laughed, "Who can say no to that face? I'd love to see Captain America."

Calvin grinned triumphantly, "_Yes!_"

Olivia turned back to the showings and saw that once started in twenty minutes. She walked up to the booth, "Two adults and one child for the four fifteen showing of Captain America." She pulled out her wallet when Marcus softly grabbed her arm and moved her out of the way. "What are you doing?" She asked suspiciously.

"Not letting you pay," He responded casually, sliding the cashier the money under the glass.

Olivia gave him an exasperated look. "You didn't have to do that."

"I know, but I wanted to." He smiled at her warmly. "I'm paying for food and drinks too."

"You don't-"Olivia started.

"I _want_ to, Olivia."

"Let the man do what he wants, mom," Calvin said with a laugh.

"You are outnumbered," Marcus said with a playful grin.

"Boys rule girls drool!" Calvin said, sticking out his tongue at her.

Olivia took the tickets from the cashier, rolling her eyes, and walked towards the door with the guys following her. Marcus grabbed the door for them.

Calvin rushed ahead of Olivia through the door. She reached out and pinched him lightly.

"_Ow,_" He complained. "What was that for?"

"Sticking your tongue out at me," She said with a smile.

Calvin grabbed her arm and started pulled her towards the theater once Marcus joined them again, "Come on, I want good seats!"

Olivia pulled her arm out his grasp, "Hang on, we have to get snacks."

"All the good seats will be gone by the time we get there!"

Marcus intervened, "How about, Olivia can go save seats and Calvin and I can get food?"

Olivia looked at Calvin.

He shrugged, "Okay."

Olivia handed Calvin two tickets, "Don't lose those."

"I won't. What do you want?"

"Just a coke," Olivia told them.

"Are you sure?" Marcus asked. "You can get more…"

"I'm sure," She insisted.

"Okay, come on Calvin."

Olivia walked towards the theaters, when she was a few feet away she heard Marcus ask Calvin, "What does she normally get?"

"A hot dog and M&M's," He responded.

"Okay, we'll get her that then."

Olivia huffed but kept on walking. She handed her ticket to the worker and headed towards theater thirteen. She walked down the hallway and entered the room. There was no one in the theater yet. She walked to about the middle of the rows of seats and sat in one. It was a few minutes before she saw Marcus and Calvin walking in, both of Marcus' hands full of drinks and a hot dog, while Calvin balanced two hotdogs on his good arm. When they came within earshot she heard Calvin say to Marcus, "I'm really sorry!"

Marcus looked back at Calvin, "It's okay, buddy, _really._"

Olivia looked at Calvin, "What happened?"

Calvin looked embarrassed, "Well…"

Olivia then noticed the yellow spot on Marcus' white dress shirt. "Calvin…"

"Hey, it was an accident, no big deal. It will come out in the washer," Marcus assured her.

Calvin walked down the row of seats and sat on the third one from the aisle. He looked at Olivia expectantly. Olivia took her drink and hot dog that Marcus offered her before sitting besides Calvin, Marcus sat to her right. He handed Calvin a drink.

"Marcus told me Abby, his dog, knows how to do all sorts of tricks," Calvin told her, taking a bite of his ketchup covered hot dog.

"Oh really? Like what?"

"Sit, down, speak, around, crawl, bow, and…" He leaned forward and looked at Marcus for support.

"Hi," He supplied. "You put your hand up and she puts her hand on yours. It's like a high five."

"Ah, very cool," Olivia told him.

He grinned at her and leaned over to say something to Calvin when the lights started to dim. He leaned back into his seat and moved his eyes toward the screen.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The movie ended exactly two hours and four minutes later and Calvin was walking backwards towards the car, facing Marcus, in conversation with him about the movie. "You remember that part when Peggy shot the gun at Steve's shield to see if it worked? That was funny."

"It was!" Marcus agreed enthusiastically. "Or when Steve jumped on the grenade, that was my favorite part."

"That was very cool," Olivia added.

The trio arrived at their cars. "That was a lot of fun," Marcus said, looking between the two. "Thanks for letting me tag along."

"No problem," Calvin said with a grin. "You should come next week too! I won't accidently squirt mustard onto your shirt then."

Marcus laughed and held out his hand to Calvin. Calvin high-fived his hand and headed towards the car. Marcus watched him walked off for a second then turned to Olivia.

"Thanks for coming," She told him softly.

"I had a lot of fun. Calvin's a great kid."

"He is."

"Funny as anything, he had a talk with me while we were getting the food."

Olivia's eyes widened, "Oh no. What did he say?"

Marcus' eyes sparkled, "He told me that as long as you were happy, he was happy with me coming back around. But that if I ever hurt you, he would tell your detective friends and that they would come hunt me down."

Olivia groaned and dragged her hand over her face, "Sorry about that."

"No, it's fine. I told my sister's boyfriend's roughly the same thing every time they went out. I'm glad he approves."

Olivia smiled over at Calvin who had his back to them, "Me too. Well, we better get going."

"Same here," He stared at her for a second with a smile. Her eyes flickered over to Calvin and back.

"Right," He said with a laugh. He reached down and squeezed her hand. "Until next time."

"Bye," She told him with a smile before walking over and getting into her car. She and Calvin waved to him as he drove off.

"I approve," Calvin told her as they exited the parking lot.

"You do?"

"Mhm. You can get married now."

Olivia laughed.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hiya! Sorry for the kind of late update…I have been super busy with school. In fact, the updating was doing to be even later until I realized I already had this chapter written! Yay! Ha. Anyways, hopefully I can write more this weekend. Thanks for all your lovely reviews, as always, enjoy and everything goes to its rightful owners!**

The weekend flew by very quickly for the female detective and her everything but blood son. It was filled with rental movies, homework, and takeout food. Calvin couldn't seem to stop talking about his new _friend_, either. He was chatting animatedly on their way to school Monday morning.

"Do you think Marcus will be able to come with us next Friday too?"

Olivia glanced in her rearview mirror before answering. "Hopefully, Cal. But we'll see, he does things with his nieces and nephews."

"He should bring them with him then," Calvin stated simply. "I wouldn't mind."

"What if they don't like the movies?"

"Then we can do something else!"

Olivia looked at Calvin when it was a red light with a smile, "You must _really_ like him."

Calvin nodded, "He's cool." His eyes lit up, "Since we're friends, does that mean if I get in trouble at school I won't get detention?"

Olivia gave him an amused expression as they pulled up to his school. "Ha, nice try, but no, and don't you even _dare_ think of doing something stupid."

He gave her a lopsided sheepish grin as he got out of the car. "Just messing with you, mom."

"You better be," She grumbled. "Aunt Kathy will probably be picking you up today."

"Okay. See you later." He shut the door and walked towards his school.

Olivia watched him go in the school before driving off to the precinct.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Olivia was in the elevator at the precinct when her phone vibrated. She pulled it out and answered it as the elevator dinged, signaling its arrival at her destination. "Hello?" She answered, walking towards her desk.

"_Olivia,_" A familiar voice said warmly.

A smile grew on the detectives face. "Marcus, hey, not to sound rude but how did you get my number?"

"_Oh, I thought Calvin would've told you. He gave it to me at the theater; I hope that was alright…_"

_Calvin,_ Olivia thought to herself, momentarily closing her eyes. "No, it's fine. How can I help you?"

His laugh through the phone made Olivia's smile grow as she sat at her desk. "I was hoping we could schedule another date."

"Oh? What did you have in mind, Mr. Principal?"

"I would go fancier and ask you out to a nice restaurant on the weekend, but since both of are weekends seem pretty busy, how about lunch at the café again? Unless you're sick of it?"

"That sounds great. When?"

"Tuesday?" He paused, "And Thursday and possibly Friday?"

Olivia laughed right as Elliot walked in. He gave her a questioning look. She waved him off and turned her attention back to her phone conversation. "Hm, I can do Tuesday and Thursday, but not Friday, Calvin has early release."

Marcus snorted, "Right, I should've known that…Also, I'm taking my nieces and nephews to the park Saturday afternoon, would you and Calvin like to join us? My eldest nephew is around Calvin's age."

"The park sounds great," She told him. "Calvin won't quit talking about you."

"Really? I hope they're all good things…"

"They are," She insisted. Olivia looked up as Captain Cragen walked out of his office, he motioned for her to come. "Uh, Marcus, I have to go, duty calls."

"Alright, see you tomorrow. Bye, Olivia."

"See you then." She walked quickly over to the Captain's office before Elliot could even ask who she was talking to. She knocked quickly before opening the door, "Captain?"

"Benson," He greeted. "Have a seat."

She sat and waited patiently until he started speaking.

"You're probably wondering why I called you in here," He started.

Olivia nodded.

"I have a case for you."

"Shouldn't Elliot be in here too then?" She asked confused.

"No," He said slowly, as if debating. "This case…I need you to go undercover."

Terrible memories of her undercover job at the woman's prison flashed through Olivia's mind. "Undercover?" She asked carefully.

"I know that this won't be easy, with your son. And believe me, I would've asked Fin or Munch if I could have. But I needed a female."

"What's the case?" She asked.

Cragen slid a file to her over the desk. She glanced at him before opening it. Inside were numerous pictures of, what Olivia could tell, prostitutes. They were all covered in bruises, and were laying on the ground, dead, with duct tape covering their heads. She looked back up at her Captain with a question in her eyes.

"I need you to pose as a popular prostitute's guard."

Relief washed over the detective's face. She had been worried he wanted her to pose as the prostitute. "Why me?" She questioned.

"The street detectives needed a special victim's officer, someone who knew what they were going into. You will be joint working the case with them while you are undercover," He told her.

"Is this between you and myself, sir?"

He nodded, "Only tell Elliot need to know. You'll need to explain some, I presume. That's all, you leave tomorrow."

She stood, hesitating before leaving the office. "How long will I be gone?"

"As long as it takes."

Olivia left the over and walked back over to her desk. She sat and put her head in both of her hands, her head was pulsing painfully.

"You alright, Liv?" Elliot called over from his desk.

"Yeah…hey, can you call Kathy for me and tell her I'll pick up Calvin from school instead?"

He gave her a questioning glance while picking up the phone off of his desk. "Sure, but why the change of plans?" He paused, "No answer. I'll try again in a few minutes."

She nodded, "Thanks."

Elliot stood up and pulled his chair over closer to her desk, "What's up?"

She glanced at him before running a hand through her hair nervously. "I have an undercover assignment. I leave tomorrow."

Surprise flickered across his face. "What's the assignment?"

"I can't say. I'm supposed to tell you need to know only, sorry."

"Okay," He responded slowly. "How long is the assignment? Can you say that?"

She bit her lip, "I don't know. However long it takes to finish."

"I see."

"Do you think Calvin could….?"

"Of course, no problem. Dickie will be thrilled."

"I don't know how I'm going to break this to him."

"Don't stall," He advised. "Just come out and tell him."

She nodded and started turning her attention back to the stacks of paperwork on her desk.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When she arrived at Calvin's school a few minutes early hours later, she pulled out her cell phone and touched the number on the screen that had last called her.

"_Olivia_," Marcus' voice answered. "_What can I do for you?_"

"I'm really sorry to say this, but I'm going to have to cancel on you this week. Something for work came up…" She trailed off.

She heard him exhale slowly on the other end. "_Well I can't say I'm not disappointed, but I understand._ _We can reschedule once this work thing is finished, yeah?_"

She smiled sadly, "Yeah, we can. Sorry again."

"_Be careful_," He told her before hanging up.

Olivia signed and shoved the phone back into her pants pocket. The school bell rang. She saw Calvin come out and look around for Kathy. Olivia honked her car horn quickly. He looked over confused before walking over.

"I thought Aunt Kathy was picking me up today?" He questioned while getting in.

"Something came up." Olivia pulled out of the school and headed to their apartment.

"Is everything okay?" He quickly noticed she was tense.

"Cal…"

He turned to look at her, there was question and a bit of nervousness in his eyes. "What is it?"

"I have a special job for work starting tomorrow."

Relief washed over his face. "What kind of job?"

"One that requires me being away for awhile," She told him slowly.

His eyes flew to her face. "For how long?"

"I don't know," She told him truthfully. "Hopefully not long." Olivia could see the gears turning in his head, processing the information.

"What am I going to do while you're gone?"

"Stay with the Stabler's."

"So…it'll be like a really long sleep over?"

She nodded, "Exactly like that. Are you mad?"

"No," He said offering her a smile. "I understand."

"You are the _best_ son in the world."

"Tell me something I don't know," He responded with a grin.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed writing this chapter…I think it's my favorite so far, so I hope you like reading it as much as I liked writing it! Calvin is BACK on SVU this Wednesday at 10/9c on NBC… so don't miss this week's episode (I'm so pumped!) If you like this story, go check out Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell's story **_**Absent Love**_** that I beta. Trust me, it's getting reaaaally good! As always, enjoy, leave me a review if you don't mind (even just one word could make my day, no joke) and everything goes to its rightful owners. **

Later that night, Olivia was packing up duffel bags. One for herself, one for Calvin for when Elliot came to pick him up in the morning, she knew he would likely forget something if she let him do it all on his own. She sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that night and ran a hand nervously through her hair. She glanced over at her bedside table and stared at the picture sitting on it. The picture showed her and Calvin at the precinct, making a funny face at the camera, and Calvin was attempting to give her bunny ears behind her head. It was unsuccessful though, because he had a piece of paper gripped in his hand.

_It was a Saturday, a few weeks after Calvin had come to live with her. They were still living in her old apartment, and still in the process of legally adopting Calvin. Olivia had to come into work to finish up a few things, they would only be here a couple of hours, and Calvin had insisted on tagging along._

_While she was at her desk, filling out a few almost-late files, Calvin had snatched her phone and was playing around with the camera. He was sitting across from her at Elliot's desk, who didn't come in today. Olivia laughed at some of the faces Calvin was making while entertaining himself by taking pictures of himself. He would turn the phone backwards so the camera was towards him, make a face, try to push the button to snap the picture, then quickly turn the phone around to see what the picture turned out to look like. He made a frustrated sound. _

"_You know," Olivia advised without looking up. "That would be a lot easier if you used the front camera."_

_He cocked his head to the side slightly, "What do you mean?"_

"_Here, let me see." _

_He handed her the phone and Olivia pressed something on the screen before handing it back. "Woah," Calvin exclaimed, while staring at the screen. He could now take pictures without turning the camera around backwards. "Thanks," He grinned at her._

_Olivia glanced up as she heard the faint ding of the elevator. And the familiar clip clop of heels walking down the hallway._

"_I'll see who it is!" Calvin quickly scooted towards the hallway in the chair on wheels. He glided out of the office area, into the hallway. Olivia lost sight of him. "Oh," She heard him say. "What are you doing here?"_

"_I was hoping you would be here," A voice answered. Olivia instantly recognized the voice to be Casey Novak. "Is Olivia around?"_

"_She's in there." Olivia could imagine Calvin pointing in her direction. Calvin rolled back in backwards, so he could snap pictures of Casey while she was walking in._

_Casey laughed and playfully put up the papers she was holding in front of her face. "Each picture will cost you ten dollars."_

"_Yeah right," Calvin responded doubtingly. He took another picture._

_Casey grabbed onto the back of the chair and pushed him across the room with a grin. "Ha!" She walked over to Olivia. "This is for you," She threw the paper she was holding in front of the detective._

_Olivia scanned the paper and grinned up at the ADA. "Casey, you are the best. I wasn't expecting this for another month."_

"_Yeah, well, this is a special circumstance. Now, I better go before your personal paparazzi comes back to get me."_

_Olivia laughed. "See you."_

_Casey smiled before heading back towards the elevator. _

"_Hey!" Calvin called out. "Where do you think you're going!" He started to follow her again in the chair._

_Casey sped up her pace and managed to make it into the elevator before Calvin could take another picture. "Bye, Calvin!" She yelled out as the doors shut._

_Calvin came rolling back towards her, playfully sulking. He then spotted the paper Olivia was holding. "What's that?"_

"_Your adoption papers," She told him as casually as she could manage._

_His eyes lit up like fireworks, "Can I see?"_

"_Sure," She handed him the piece of paper. He took a minute to read it. He looked up at her and grinned. "This calls for a picture."_

"_Calvin, no," Olivia groaned._

"_Aw, come on, just two!"_

"_Two?" Olivia questioned as Calvin came to stand by her._

"_One for smiling, one for silly faces," He explained. "Okay," He held the phone at arm's length to where both of their faces were on the screen. "Serious face first. One…two…three!" Olivia heard the shutter sound of the picture take and she dropped her smile. _

"_Hey, that was a good one! Okay, now silly. One…two…three!" Olivia felt Calvin put his hand behind her head and she opened her mouth to say something to him when she heard the shutter sound. _

_Calvin pulled the phone closer to get a better look at the picture. He started cracking up, "Look at your face! It's perfect!"_

_Olivia looked at the screen at started laughing along with him. Calvin had his tongue sticking out with his eyes crossed, and his hand was doing a semi bunny ear behind Olivia's head. Semi because that hand still clutched his adoption papers. Her mouth was hanging open and she looked plain ridiculous. _

"_We'll have to print that one out," She told him with a grin._

"_Yes we will," He agreed, still laughing._

Olivia smiled fondly at the memory. She had printed out and framed the picture that night. And she had the ones of Casey saved on her laptop for blackmail uses.

"Hey, mom?" Calvin called out from the living room, where he was supposed to be doing homework.

"Yeah?" She called back.

"I finished everything! Can I watch TV now?"

"Sure." She turned back to the bags with a groan. She ended up packing Calvin almost two weeks worth of clothes, just in case. His job was to pack anything else he would need. And of course, Olivia would give Elliot her apartment key in case he ended up forgetting anything. She packed herself the whole load of clothes she had just washed, not paying them any attention while folding and packing them. When she was satisfied she was done, she walked out of her room into the living room. She found Calvin slouched on the couch, quietly watching _Iron Man._

He looked up as she walked in. He flashed a tired smile at her before turning back to the movie.

"Shouldn't you be in bed by now?" She teased while sitting down next to him.

He leaned his head onto her shoulder, "I wanted to stay up with you awhile before you left tomorrow."

Olivia could practically feel her heart melt. She kissed the top of his head and said nothing.

"Will I be able to call you?" Calvin questioned.

"I don't know…it's different every time. I hope you'll be able to call me."

"Me too," He mumbled, his eyes shutting against her shoulder.

Olivia smiled as she heard his soft snores only moments later. She rested her head on top of his before feeling her own eyes close.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

She woke up the next morning to her alarm. Thank goodness it resets itself every morning, Olivia thought to herself. Calvin was still asleep on her shoulder. Olivia stood up, careful to lay Calvin back down on the couch, and flinched. Pain shot through her neck from falling asleep with Calvin on the couch. She quickly walked into her room to turn off the alarm before getting into the shower.

When she came out of the bathroom fully dressed, she discovered a fully awake Calvin sitting on her bed. "Hey," She told him softly, walking over.

"Hi," He responded quietly.

She sat next to him and offered him a sad smile. "Are you okay?"

"I get that you need to do this for work," He told her. "And I'm okay with that. But…I'm going to miss you." He sniffed.

"I'm going to miss you _more,_" She informed him.

"Nu-uh," He challenged.

"Yeah-huh," She told him, poking his side.

"No," He insisted with a laugh.

"Yes!"

"No, no, no…"

"Yes, yes, yes…Are you all packed?" She asked suddenly.

"I think so. Are you?"

Olivia laughed, "I think I am."

Just then, someone knocked on the apartment door. "That must be Elliot," Olivia told Calvin, making her way towards the door. Calvin followed her.

She unlocked and pulled open the door and sure enough, there stood her partner. "Hey," He greeted warmly.

"Come on in," Olivia told him, pulling the door open further.

"You all packed?" Elliot asked Calvin.

"Yeah, mom, where's my bag?"

"In my room, in front of the closet," Olivia told him. He jogged to go grab it.

Elliot turned to her, "How are you?"

"Nervous," She admitted.

"About the job or leaving Calvin?"

She opened her mouth to answer when Calvin came back in, his duffle back slung over his shoulder, and dragging his backpack along the ground with his hands.

"Here let me help you with that," Elliot told him, relieving him of his duffle bag.

"Thanks," Calvin responded, flashing him a grateful smile. He turned to Olivia. "Guess it's time to say bye now, huh?"

"Probably." She opened her arms for a hug. Calvin dropped his backpack and wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, burying his face against her shoulder. Olivia blinked back tears as she pressed her face into his hair. "You behave, alright?"

"Promise," He told her smiling slightly as he pulled back. "You be _careful._"

"I will."

"Catch the bad guy fast," He told her, picking back up his back pack.

"I'll do my best, Cal."

"Always have you gun."

"Got it."

"Elliot, do you have anything to add?" Calvin asked him.

"Nope, I think you covered it all," He said with a grin.

Calvin gave Olivia another quick hug.

"You ready?" Elliot asked him.

Calvin nodded and waved at Olivia as he and Elliot walked out the door. "See you when you get back!"

"Bye. I love you!"

"Love you too, mom." He walked down the hallway.

Elliot turned to her before pulling the door closed. "Call me if you need _anything_. I don't care if you're halfway across the US or if it's the middle or the night, if you need me, I'm there."

She smiled at her partner. "Thanks, El, I will. Bye."

"Bye," He told her with a soft smile before pulling the door shut.

Olivia locked the door before turning and leaning against the door with a sigh. _I just hope I'm not gone long,_ She thought.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: So, I don't normally update three days in a row like this… but I somehow managed to write 3 ½ chapters yesterday. It was awesome, ha. This chapter is in Calvin's POV in case you are a little confused. The rest of Olivia's absence will be written in Calvin's POV as well. Sorry if you were hoping for Olivia's POV, but I haven't written from Calvin's perspective since Home! I hope you enjoy and everything goes to its rightful owners. **

Calvin shifted his position for what seemed like the hundredth time, trying to get comfortable. He was currently laying on the Stabler's couch in their living room. He heard the grandfather clock chime six times, sighing, he sat up. _I have to get up for school in an hour anyway, so what's the point of going back to sleep?_ He asked himself.

Olivia had been gone for a week now. Calvin hadn't gotten one call from his adopted mom. He knew she had told him that she wasn't sure if she would be able to call him, but still, every night he hoped and prayed that she would call. Even just to say she was okay.

He heard the distant running of water and knew Elliot was getting up. He would take a quick shower, get dressed, and then come into the kitchen to start the coffee maker. Calvin had Elliot's morning schedule down to the T, this hadn't been the first time he had trouble sleeping. He heard footsteps walking down the hallway a few minutes later and looked up to see Elliot.

"Couldn't sleep?" Elliot questioned as Calvin followed Elliot into the the kitchen to sit at the table.

"No," He answered with a yawn.

"You want something to eat?"

"I'm not really hungry," Calvin told him, laying his head down on the table.

"You feeling okay?"

"If I say no does that mean I don't have to go to school?"

Elliot laughed, "No, sorry."

Calvin pouted, "Then no, I feel fine."

Elliot came and sat next to him with a mug of coffee. "You miss your mom?"

Calvin leaned his head against his folded arms on the table and nodded.

Elliot patted his shoulder. "She'll be back soon," He assured.

"How do you know?" Calvin mumbled.

"Because, Liv is very good at getting her job done correctly and fast, and she will be back even faster because you're here now."

"I hope so."

Kathy walked into the kitchen fully dressed. "You're up early," She commented to Calvin softly, running a hand over his head as she passed him to the fridge.

"Couldn't sleep," He responded.

She gave him a small smile before starting to crack eggs for breakfast. "El, could you go wake up Dickie and Lizzie?"

"Sure," Elliot stood up and walked down the hall to his kids' rooms. He returned a minute later, "Okay, they're up."

"I'm going to go get dressed," Calvin announced, walking into the living room.

"Feel free to use our bathroom, Cal," Kathy told him.

"Thanks," Calvin told her, offering her a smile before walking towards their bedroom with a pair of clothes and his toothbrush folded over his cast. He got dressed quickly, only struggling when he had to fit his cast through the sleeve of his shirt. He quickly made his way back into the kitchen.

Dickie and Lizzie were now sitting at the table, across from their dad. They both smiled at Calvin as he returned to his seat.

Kathy walked over and set a big plate of eggs down on the table. "Okay, I'm leaving." She gave Elliot a quick kiss before walking towards the door, "I'll see you all tonight."

"Bye," Echoed four voices.

Calvin scooped a few spoonfuls of egg onto his plate.

"I thought you weren't hungry?" Elliot asked with a wink.

"I am now!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Thirty minutes later, they were pulling into Calvin's school. Elliot would drop Calvin off before driving over to the high school to drop the twins off.

"See you tonight, Cal!" Dickie yelled out through the window as they pulled away in the car.

Calvin waved at them before walking across the pavement to his school doors. He shifted his back pack on his shoulder as he walked towards his first class. He walked into the classroom and spotted two of his friends, Eric and George.

"Hey Calvin," They said in unison.

"Hi, guys."

"How much longer do you have to keep your cast on?" Eric questioned.

"Another three weeks, I think."

"So, you'll get it off right before your birthday?" George asked. "That's _cool_."

"What are you asking for?" Eric asked with a grin.

"What?" Calvin asked confused.

"For your birthday."

"Oh, I don't know. I haven't really given it much thought," Calvin admitted. A sudden thought came to him suddenly. _What if Olivia isn't back before my birthday?_ The teacher walked in and he pushed the thought away as he sat down at a desk and tried to pay attention.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur, Calvin couldn't seem to stop worrying. He didn't remember one word any of his teachers said today. He was definitely going to need some help on his homework this weekend.

The three-thirty bell rang and Calvin quickly packed up his science books before making his way out of the classroom. Once he walked out of the room, a voice called out his name, "Calvin."

He turned and saw his principal, Marcus Wright walking towards him. He smiled at the man, "Hi."

Marcus grinned at Calvin and walked with him towards the doors that lead to outside. "How have you been doing?"

"Okay," Calvin responded with a shrug. "How about you?"

"Okay," He echoed with a smile.

"Am I in trouble or something?"

"No, no. I just came to ask you something."

Calvin looked at him expectantly.

"I know your mom isn't here right now," Sadness flashed across Calvin's face at those words so Marcus continued quickly. "But I had told her that I'd like to take you with me and my nieces and nephews to the park sometime. What do you think?"

"That would be fun," Calvin said slowly. "But I don't know when Olivia will be back…"

"That's what I came to ask. If it was okay with whoever you're staying with, I was going to see if you wanted to come with us tomorrow, if you were comfortable with that," He added.

"Oh," Calvin responded surprised. "I wouldn't mind." He looked around once they were outside. "There's Elliot," He said pointing. "You can ask him." They both walked over towards Elliot.

Once they got closer, Elliot got out of the car and walked over.

"Elliot," Marcus greeted, holding out his hand.

"Marcus," Elliot returned, shaking the man's hand. "Is there something I need to know?" Elliot asked, looking at Calvin.

Calvin laughed slightly and shook his head.

"Ah, no, actually…" Calvin went to go stand by the car as Marcus started explaining to Elliot.

Elliot returned to the car a minute later. "You ready?"

"Yeah." Calvin waved at Mr. Wright as he walked back into the school before getting in the car. "Well?"

"Well what?" Elliot asked.

"Can I go?"

"Do you want to?"

Calvin nodded.

"Then yes, you may go."

"Sweet," Calvin said grinning. "I hope he brings Abby."

Elliot raised his eyebrows at Calvin as he headed towards the high school. "Abby?"

"His dog," Calvin explained, blushing.

"I see."

"What time are we going?"

"Around two."

"Are you coming with me?"

"Would you like me to?"

"Yes," Calvin admitted with a smile.

"Then I can come with you. Dickie and I can throw a football around or something while you hang out."

"Thanks," Calvin told him with a grin.

"Anytime, buddy."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hi! Here's chapter 15…remember in like chapter 7 when I said this story had like two chapters left? Guess that didn't exactly happen, ha. This story will actually have 19 or 20 chapters, depending on how it all writes out. Hope you guys like this chapter! Everything goes to its rightful owners. **

The next day, Calvin couldn't stop talking about how excited he was. He was a big ball of pure excitement. _This_ was the Calvin everyone was used to. All of the Stabler's were happy to see him back to his perky self.

"When can we go, Elliot?" Calvin asked bouncing up and down.

"When it gets closer to two, Cal. We don't want to get to the park too early."

"I can't wait any longer," He whined.

"Find something to keep yourself occupied," The detective suggested.

"I already did all my homework this morning. And I cleaned up my duffel bag. I already did _everything!_ I even offered to help Dickie clean his room but he said he didn't want help."

"Well that was nice of you."

Calvin drew a circle in the air over his head with a grin.

"I wouldn't go _that_ far," Elliot teased.

Calvin pretended to act offended. "I'd ask Aunt Kathy if she needed help with anything but she and Lizzie went to the store…"

"Alright, well, let me go grab my keys. You go get Dickie. Then we can leave."

"Okay!" Calvin sped off down the hallway. Elliot could hear Calvin tell Dickie excitedly, "Come on, we're leaving!"

Fifteen minutes they were still driving when Calvin asked from the backseat, "Are we there yet?"

"No," Dickie called from the passenger seat.

A moment of silence before, "What about now?"

Dickie turned around in his seat, "Are you like this with your mom?"

"No," Calvin answered,

"Why not?"

"She threatened to handcuff me to the top of the car…"

Elliot started cracking up and Calvin grinned at him.

"What else has she threatened to do?" Elliot asked with a smirk.

Calvin laughed slightly, "Lots."

"Like?" Dickie prompted.

Calvin looked out the window, "We're here!" They all got out of the car and started the short walk to the playground. The park wasn't crowded, even with it being a nice Saturday afternoon. Calvin started looking around, "Do you see them?" He asked looking up at Elliot, covering his eyes with his hand to block out the sun.

"Not yet…oh, there," He pointed toward the direction of the slide.

Calvin started walking in that direction. Elliot followed, "I'll be right back, Dickie."

"'Kay, dad."

When they walked closer, Marcus was standing at the end of the slide encouraging someone. "It's okay, Maria, I'll catch you!" He turned around when he saw their shadows. "Hey, guys."

Calvin smiled at him.

"My four year old niece won't come down the slide," He explained.

"I know how that is," Elliot said with a grin. "We'll be right over in the field, okay Calvin?"

"Okay," Calvin told him. "See you in a little bit."

"How are you today?" Marcus asked him, turning back to the slide.

"I'm good…where is your other family?"

"Grace and Georgia are over on the monkey bars, and Michael is walking Abby around."

Calvin's eyes lit up. "You brought Abby?"

"Uh-huh. In fact, there she is now."

Calvin turned around quickly and saw a blond boy around his age walk up with a Golden Retriever.

"Hi," The boy greeted with a smile. "I'm Michael and this is Abby."

"I'm Calvin…can I pet her?" He asked, gesturing towards Abby.

Michael nodded enthusiastically.

Calvin kneeled down in front of Abby's face and was greeted with a lick across the face, he and Michael both laughed. "She likes you," Michael told him.

Calvin grinned up at him.

"Okay, I'm coming down now!" Yelled a small voice from inside the slide.

"Okay, I'm _still_ here," Marcus responded patiently. Maria, the four year old girl, came flying down the slide, her blond hair sticking up with static. Marcus reached out and grabbed her before she flew off the slide. She giggled with delight and looked over at Calvin with interest, "Who you?"

"That's Calvin," Marcus told her softly. "He's Olivia's son, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Hi," She told him, waving bashfully.

"Hi," Calvin responded with a grin.

Two brunette twin girls came running over suddenly. "Uncle Marc." One of them whined, "Georgia pinched me."

"I didn't _mean_ to," The other girl, Georgia, protested.

Marcus shot Calvin an apologetic look. "Both of you stop fighting, we have a guest."

The twins, Grace and Georgia's heads snapped towards him. "Is this your girlfriend's son, Uncle Marc?" Georgia questioned.

Marcus' face became a deep red. "This is Calvin and yes, he is Olivia's son."

"Where is Olivia?" Grace asked Calvin.

"She's working," Calvin replied quietly.

"Hey," Marcus said cutting in. "You guys want to go play baseball?"

"Yeah!" Michael, Grace, and Georgia yelled in unison.

Marcus looked at Calvin, "You want to play, Calvin?"

"Sure," Calvin said with a grin.

When they went over to the field, they asked Elliot and Dickie is they wanted to join. They agreed. They split up into two teams: Elliot, Dickie, and Calvin on one team, Marcus, Michael and Grace on the other. Georgia and Maria decided to sit on the sideline and watch with Abby. Maria declared herself cheerleader.

Michael was up to bat first, Dickie was pitching. Michael hit the ball on the first pitch and it flew towards the second base they had set up. Elliot ran to grab it and threw it towards Calvin who was standing by first base. He caught it and touched the base before Michael touched it. "Out!" Calvin said proudly.

"Good catch," Michael said impressed.

It was the last inning of their game, and the score was five to five. Elliot's team was up to bat and both Elliot and Dickie were on a base. It was up to Calvin to hit the ball so they could score and win. He stepped up to the home plate, holding the bat firmly with his good hand. Having his cast on didn't prevent him all that much from being able to hit the ball. He got ready as Michael threw the first ball, he missed. He threw the second ball, Calvin missed again. He made a frustrated noise.

"You can do this, Calvin!" Dickie yelled from third base. Calvin closed his eyes for a minute, took a deep breath, then nodded at Michael. Michael threw ball three and Calvin swung, it came in contact with the bat with a _thunk_ and then it flew out toward the middle of the field. Calvin stood there, shocked.

"Calvin, run!" Dickie yelled, running towards home base. Calvin started running around the bases. He passed first and second base, Grace had gotten the ball and was about to throw it to Marcus. He started sprinting towards third base. His foot came in contact with third base when he saw Marcus coming towards him out of the corner of his eye. Calvin started running even faster towards home base, Marcus was just a few feet behind Calvin. Calvin jumped forward when he was a few feet away from the base and slid the rest of the way. A big dust could surrounded him.

"You okay, Calvin?" Elliot asked worriedly once the cloud of dust cleared.

Calvin sat up and coughed. "We won!" He said triumphantly.

Marcus reached down to help him up. "That slide was wicked awesome," He said with a grin.

"I've never actually done it before," Calvin admitted. "Just watched it on TV."

"Dude, you gotta teach me that!" Michael said, running up to him.

They all laughed and started packing up all the equipment. Packing the last of it into his car, Marcus turned to Calvin. "Thanks you coming, Calvin."

"I had a lot of fun," Calvin said grinning.

"You should join my baseball team next year," Michael told Calvin, slapping him on the back. "Uncle Marc is even going to coach it!"

"I said 'we'll see'," He corrected.

"You still should."

"I'll ask Olivia," Calvin said with a smile.

"Good. See you around, Calvin," Michael said, getting into the car.

"Bye! Bye, Marcus," Calvin added.

"Bye, Calvin," Marcus waved to Elliot and Dickie before getting into his car. They pulled away from the park.

"Can we go now?" Dickie asked. "I'm _starving._"

"Me too!" Calvin agreed.

"Yeah, let's go," Elliot said laughing.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next morning, the Stabler family headed back home from church in the morning. Calvin tried his best to pay attention, but he kept dozing off. Dickie had to keep elbowing him to wake him up.

"Sorry," Calvin apologized to Elliot after the service had let out. He, Dickie and Lizzie piled into the back seat of the car while Elliot and Kathy got into the front.

"S'Okay," Elliot told him. "I used to fall asleep too. Still do sometimes if I work the night before."

"So that means I can sleep during church?" Dickie asked.

"Absolutely not," Kathy told her son sternly.

Dickie huffed.

Calvin started up a conversation about the baseball game with Dickie as they drove down the Stabler's street, "Remember that home run you hit? How did you hit it that hard?"

"I don't know," He responded. "It was pure luck."

They got closer to the Stabler house and Elliot and Kathy shared a smile.

"What are you guys smiling about?" Lizzie asked. She looked out the window, towards their house and grinned. "Oh."

"What?" Calvin looked out the window as they pulled up to their house. A familiar looking car was parked outside of the house. Calvin squinted to look inside the car but it was empty. His eyes darted toward the house, and sure enough, there sitting against the front door of the house, was the brunette detective he hadn't seen in almost two weeks.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: 'ello! As you've probably noticed, you're going to get a new chapter every day now until the story is finished. Which, will be on Wednesday and you'll get two on Wednesday. I'm going to finish writing today…only two chapters left. Thank you everyone for all of your reviews, they seriously make my day. Everything goes to its rightful owners. **

Calvin stared out the window, blinking slowly. He felt the car pull to a stop, but it didn't click with his brain. Or, at least until Dickie shook his shoulder and asked if he was going to get out. He slid across the seat slowly and walked to the edge of the lawn where he stopped. He watched as Olivia stood up and made her way towards him with her thumbs in her pockets. She stopped a few feet in front of him. "Hey, Cal," She said to him warmly, her eyes sparkling.

"Can you pinch me?"

"What?" Olivia questioned, a wide grin spreading across her face.

Calvin held out his arm. "I need to know if this is real."

"Okay…" She reached out and pinched his arm, _hard._

"_Ow,_ Olivia, you didn't have to do it that-" He froze and looked up at her with wide eyes before launching himself into her arms. He inhaled deeply against her shoulder. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and leaned her check against his head and exhaled, finally relaxing.

"I missed you," He mumbled against her.

"I missed you too."

He pulled back and Olivia reluctantly released him. "I hung out with Marcus yesterday."

Surprise flickered across her face. "You did?"

"Uh-huh. And his nieces and nephews, Elliot, Dickie and I beat Marcus and his niece and nephew at baseball!"

"That's _awesome_."

"Yeah, it was a lot of fun! How was your job?"

"Let's go inside and I'll tell you, I'm sure Elliot wants to know too."

"Yes, Elliot does want to know," Elliot agreed from the front door. When Olivia walked through the door he said, "Good to have you back."

"Good to _be_ back," She agreed.

Once they were all seated at the table, minus Kathy and Lizzie who were making lunch, Olivia started her story. "Well, I would have been back a lot sooner," She started, shooting an apologetic smile at Calvin, "but the perp didn't try anything at first, she suspected something."

"She?" Elliot questioned.

"Yup, the perp was a woman. Apparently her daughter was once a prostitute, and sadly died. She went through a mental meltdown and came to the conclusion that all the prostitutes her daughter was associated with should die too."

"Wow," Dickie commented, his mouth hanging open.

"So how'd you catch her?" Calvin prodded intently.

"I'm getting there," Olivia told him with a grin, poking his arm. "Be patient."

He leaned closer to her, staring intently.

"My job was to act as a well known prostitute's body guard," She explained. "A source confirmed that the girl I was protecting and the perp's daughter used to work together, therefore making her the next victim. So I followed her around for the first week and absolutely _nothing_ happened. The cops I was working with almost pulled me out thinking they had the wrong person. But then…"

"Then what?" Calvin demanded, wide eyed. "Did the girl you were protecting get sent a body part, a threatening letter, or find hundreds of pictures of herself all over the place?"

Olivia gave Calvin a sharp look, "I thought I told you no more watching _Criminal Minds?_"

"Continue the story!" Calvin pleaded, ignoring her question.

Olivia narrowed her eyes at him before continuing. "But then the suspect contacted the girl and asked if they could meet. So a few days later, I went with her to the meeting. They just talked and then we left. But that night, the girl decided to walk outside for a minute to smoke. That's when I heard a crash. I rushed out as fast as I could, and sure enough, there was the suspect, attempting to beat the living daylights out of the girl with a metal trash can lid. After we arrested her, we found her bag a few feet away, inside contained the duct tape, which after we sent to CSU, found out the fibers, matched the tape found on the other girls."

"Was the girl okay?" Calvin asked worriedly.

Olivia smiled fondly at him. "She was fine, just beaten up pretty bad." She turned to Elliot, "Anything interesting happen at the precinct?"

"We got a case, but it's solved and now there's just even more paperwork to do."

"Lovely."

"Are we staying for lunch?" Calvin asked, regaining the attention of his mom.

"You can if you want," Elliot interjected. "But I understand if you're exhausted."

Olivia nodded and turned back to Calvin, "Well?"

"Can we go home? Not that I don't like it here," He added smiling at Elliot sheepishly.

"Hey, don't worry about offending me," Elliot told him. "I'd want to go home too."

"We can go home," Olivia told Calvin. "Why don't you go pack up your stuff real quick?"

"Okay." Calvin sped off towards the living room. Olivia could hear him throwing stuff into his bag as fast as he could. Then he ran back through the kitchen and down the hallway.

"Thanks for letting him stay again," Olivia said to her partner.

"No problem."

"Did he behave?"

"He was great," Elliot assured her.

"Good. I have the whole week off so I'll be able to pick him up every day. Although I might come into work later in the week, but I'll just take off early so I can pick him up."

"Alright." They both turned and laughed as Calvin came jogging back into the kitchen, carrying an armful of his stuff. His forehead had a streak of toothpaste across it. "Okay, I have everything."

"Positive? Cal, how on earth did you get toothpaste on your forehead? Come here," Olivia gestured for him to come over.

He came to stand by her seat, "I tried grabbing my toothpaste but it slipped out of my hands and when I grabbed it before it fell, I must have squeezed it too hard since it squirted out of the bottle onto my face…but my hands were full so I couldn't- _ew._ Olivia, don't do that," He whined.

Olivia had wiped most of it off with a napkin, then had licked her finger and rubbed it across his forehead to get the rest of it off. "Oh, don't be a baby."

"But that's _gross,_" He protested.

"Well now I'm done. Are you ready?"

"Uh-huh."

"What do you say to the Stabler's?"

Calvin turned towards Elliot. "Thank you for letting me stay with you while Olivia had to work."

"You're welcome," Elliot said with a smile.

"Let's go now," Calvin said, grabbing Olivia's arm and dragging her into the living room. He picked up his overflowing duffel bag and hoisted it onto his shoulder.

"Do you need help?" Olivia asked.

"No, I got it, just come on!" He walked out the front door.

"Someone's in a hurry to leave." She turned to Elliot while she was halfway out the door. "Thanks again. I'll see you later."

"Bye," He told her, waving to Calvin.

Olivia walked to the car, unlocking it so Calvin could shove his things into the back seat. He then climbed into the passenger seat next to Olivia. "Want to pick something up for lunch or go to the store and get groceries?"

"Let's get Chinese. I haven't had that since the last time we had it!"

"Me neither," Olivia agreed. "Okay, let's go get Chinese."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After completely stuffing themselves with teriyaki chicken, fried rice, and egg rolls, the two Benson's were slouched on the couch in their apartment, listening to nothing but the sound of the washer washing a load of dirty clothes. Calvin was the first to break the silence, "I got to meet Abby yesterday."

"You did?" Olivia questioned, shifting her position so she could look at him better. "How was that?"

"It was good. She licked me all over my face."

Olivia laughed, "Gross."

"Yeah, it kind of smelled. But it means she likes me."

"How could anything _not_ like you?"

Calvin went quiet for a minute before answering quietly, "That's what I always wondered when mom, Vivian, came home with her headaches and didn't want to do anything with me. Even after I didn't do anything wrong."

Olivia's eyes flickered over to his. "Oh, Cal, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

He cut her off, "I know. I was just saying."

She leaned over and laid her head on his shoulder. "I could never stop liking you."

"I know," He said softly, then snorted.

"What?" Olivia asked him, "What's so funny?"

"Your head is _heavy._"

"That's because my head is full of knowledge," She retorted.

"Or a rock," Calvin teased.

Olivia reached over and poked his side. Calvin squirmed. She kept poking him until water was streaming down his face from laughing and his back was flat against the couch. "Take it back," She told him while grinning, pinning his arms and legs to the couch so he couldn't escape.

"Your head is not full of rocks," He said. "Now get off, _please._"

She released him and moved back to the other end of the couch. He sat up and glared at her slightly, before scooting back closer to her. Olivia raised an eyebrow at him but he just shrugged and leaned against her. "You didn't ever call," He told her simply.

"I know. I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"I was never alone. If I would have chanced making a call around those people, someone could have traced the call or something and found you. I wasn't about to risk that."

"That makes absolutely no sense to me, but okay."

"You'll understand, someday."

"Okay." He yawned. "I think I'm going to go to bed." Calvin curled up against Olivia's side, and wrapped an arm around her waist and sighed.

"I thought you were going to bed?" Olivia asked with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah, in a minute…" His eyes drifted shut.

"Calvin," Olivia urged. "You'd be more comfortable in your bed. Come on." She untangled herself from his arms and attempted to get him up, but he just collapsed back down on the couch, and started snoring. "Okay, you can sleep on the couch…" Olivia muttered to herself. She looked around for a blanket. Grabbing the one on the end of the couch, she covered him up with it before kissing his head and heading to her own room for the night.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: So, I guess I lied. But a GOOD kind of lie (I hope). You get two chapters today, two tomorrow, and the last one on Wednesday! I finished it all today. I have to say it was incredibly bittersweet, but I was determined to get this done before Calvin is back Wednesday so this story doesn't copy anything that actually happens. To my loyal anonymous reviewer's: liviscool and Sam, I really appreciate your consistent reviews, they really mean a lot. Thank you! And of course all of you people with accounts, but I already thanked you ;-P Enjoy, everything goes to its rightful owners!**

The next morning, the detective rolled over and blindly turned off her alarm as it was screeching at her. She sighed and sat up lazily for a moment before going into the bathroom for her morning routine. Thirty minutes later, she came out and walking into the living room to wake Calvin up. Surprised, she found him already up and dressed, sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal, his hair damp from a shower. "When did you get up?"

"Around six," He told her. "I came to see if you were up yet but you were out cold."

"You could've woke me up, you know," She told him as she got the orange juice out.

He shrugged. "I didn't need you, I was just checking if you were up or not. Guess I'm just used to Elliot being up at six."

"Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah, a lot better than I did at the Stabler's. It feels nice to be back."

"It sure does." A thought occurred to her, "Hey, what are we doing for your birthday?"

"I dunno."

"Well what do you _want_ to do?"

"I haven't really thought about it. What can we do?"

"Dinner and presents here?" Olivia suggested. "You can invite some friends, and the Stabler's can come…"

"And Marcus?" Calvin questioned.

Olivia smiled slightly, "Yes, we can invite Marcus."

"And Michael," Calvin added.

"Marcus' nephew?"

"Uh-huh…_oh!_ Mom, Michael wants me to be on his baseball team next year," Calvin told her excitedly. "And Marcus might coach it! Do you think I could join?"

"I don't see why not…I'll look into it, alright? Now what about Marcus' nieces? Are you going to invite them?"

Calvin wrinkled his nose. "Maria can come. And I _guess_ Grace and Georgia can come… I don't really like them, but I'm going to have to get used to them once…" He trailed off.

"Once what?" Olivia asked, taking a drink of the orange juice.

"You and Marcus get married," Calvin said casually.

Olivia choked, glaring at Calvin through her coughing fit. He stared at her with a sheepish grin.

"Calvin," Olivia practically growled.

"Yes?" The grin was still on his face.

"No one has said anything about marriage. How do you even know I want to get married?"

"It's pretty obvious."

"How so?" She dared.

"It just _is,_" He insisted.

"Whatever, Cal."

"Just you wait."

"Just get ready to go," She told him, shoving his shoulder lightly.

"Yes, Miss soon-to-be-Misses-Marcus-Benson." Calvin ran to grab his backpack before Olivia could smack his head.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Luckily for Olivia, Calvin had dropped the Marcus subject on the way to school. He looked over at her as they pulled up to the school. "You forgot your gun and badge!"

"I'm not going into work today or tomorrow," She explained.

"What are you going to be doing all day then?"

"Grocery shopping…maybe _birthday_ shopping…" She shrugged, "Who knows."

"Not fair," He pouted.

"Get out of my car," She demanded playfully.

Calvin looked past her, out through her window and grinned at her. "Told you so," He said triumphantly before quickly getting out of the car and walking towards school.

Confused, Olivia turned to her window, and nearly had a heart attack. She opened her door and got out of her car.

"Sorry," Marcus told her with a grin. "I seem to have a bad habit of scaring you."

"Yes, you do," She chided, lightly smacking his arm. "Don't you know not to sneak up on a cop?"

His grin grew, "I made sure you didn't have your gun first."

She rolled her eyes and laughed, "Lucky you."

"When did you get back?"

"Yesterday afternoon," She responded. "I would have called you, but Calvin and I sort of came home, ate, and crashed."

He waved it off, "I wouldn't have expected a call right after you came home, Olivia."

She nodded and cocked her head slightly. "What's your schedule like this week?"

"Full of meetings," He answered, his voice sounding displeased. "Why?" He asked, his eyes sparkling as he leaned next to her against her car. "Were you going to ask me on a date?"

Olivia laughed, "More like reschedule the ones I had to cancel."

"Well in that case, I can do Thursday lunch."

"Okay. How about coming to Calvin's birthday party Friday?"

"What?"

"Calvin wanted you to come to his birthday party, with your nephew. He's expecting a party Saturday night, but to surprise him it's really on Friday," Olivia explained.

"Ah, that sounds great. You can count on Michael and I being there."

"Great," Olivia said smiling. The school bell rang.

Marcus sighed, "Guess I should be going now."

"See you Thursday," Olivia smiled softly.

Marcus took a step away from her, hesitated, and then turned back towards her. Olivia gave him a questioning glance. He leaned his head towards hers and brushed his lips against hers for a fraction of a second. "I'm glad you are safe," He whispered softly, "Until Thursday." He walked towards school without a backwards glance.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Olivia walked around the grocery store, letting her mind wander. Suddenly Calvin's ideas about marriage didn't seem so crazy. Maybe she _did_ want to get married. But was Marcus really that guy? She made a mental list. Calvin liked Marcus, Marcus liked Calvin. Marcus had a dog, Calvin liked dogs. Marcus liked kids, Olivia liked kids. Marcus had a clean rap sheet, which was _always_ a plus. Olivia could literally go on for much longer thinking of things of how Marcus _could_ be that guy, yet she couldn't think of one valid reason of why he _couldn't_ be that guy.

She shook her head, clearing it of those thoughts as she retrieved the last of her groceries before walking over to the sports section. She pulled aside a worker and asked suggestions about what baseball equipment a soon to be twelve year old might need and what the best was.

The worker pointed her to a specific brand, and said she would be good to go with anything from that brand. Olivia grabbed a six pack of baseball balls, a tan catching glove, and a red bat and batting hat. Nodding, she was satisfied that this was all he would need to make sure he really wanted to play on the baseball team.

She then went over to the electronics department, grabbing the video game he had mentioned wanting for his PSP that he brought over from Vivian's. Finally, Olivia went to check out before heading back to the apartment for the afternoon.

Unless you've carried a whole week's worth of groceries up three flights of stairs at once, you know it's not easy, Olivia thought to herself. She sighed with relief as she finally managed to unlock the door of the apartment. She set the bags down by the door before locking it and then taking the bags into the kitchen. After putting them in their rightful places, she went to sit on the couch, flipping on the TV. Stopping on a show called _NCIS,_ Olivia shut her eyes and attempted to nap to the sound of other people trying to solve a crime.

Olivia woke up a few hours later and glanced at her phone. _3:20._ She jumped off the couch and hurried out the door, almost forgetting to lock it in the process. Calvin got out of school in ten minutes and she was going to be very late if she didn't hurry.

Luckily for her, she didn't run into any patrol cars, because she was certainly pushing the speed limit a time or two on her way to the school. As soon as she pulled up, she spotted Calvin sitting on a bench outside. He got up and walked over as she pulled up. "Sleep too long?" He teased as he shut his door.

"I'm so sorry," She apologized, driving back home.

"You weren't even that late!"

"Thank goodness."

"So?" Calvin asked after a moment of silence.

"So what?"

"What did Mr. Wright want?"

Olivia blushed slightly and avoided the question. "I got ice cream at the store."

"What did he want?" Calvin repeated.

Olivia said nothing.

"I can ask him tomorrow if you won't tell me."

Olivia glanced over at him. "You _wouldn't_…"

Calvin stared at her.

"I'm going to lunch with him on Thursday."

"Does he have a ring yet?"

"_Calvin._"

"Just asking," He told her, snickering.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: As promised, here is the first chapter of the day (next one will be up in a few!) Hope you enjoy. Everything goes to its rightful owners. **

The days flew by fast, and before Olivia knew it, it was Thursday. She had just dropped Calvin off at school, and was heading to the precinct for her first day back. Entering the building, she made her way towards the elevator. She pushed the button and the doors shut, then reopened on her floor.

"Welcome back," Munch greeted as Olivia made her way to her desk.

"Thank you."

"How was it?" Fin asked.

Olivia shrugged, "Fine. Everything went well. The girl I was protecting left for a smoke break and got banged up pretty bad by the perp, but luckily as soon as I pulled my gun, she stopped."

"Wish all cases were that easy," Fin commented.

"Where's the excitement in that?" Elliot asked walking in.

"What exactly happened on this case while I was gone?" Olivia questioned, looking between the other three detectives.

"A woman came in and said her baby was abducted," Elliot started.

"Turns out that she had also had three other babies abducted in three other states," Munch filled in.

"First one was her biological baby, who she sold for drugs, complained to the police it was abducted, and then she would lie saying another child they found was hers, and repeated the process. We got all of the other kids back to their real parents," Fin finished.

"Mm," Olivia commented, grabbing some paper work. "Heard that one before."

It was silent except for the scribbling of pens and the occasional chatter as the detectives did paperwork. Olivia finished up her last one for the day and stood up, grabbing her stuff.

"Where are you going?" Elliot questioned.

"To lunch, I technically don't even have to be here, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Olivia walked down to the elevator and pressed the button. Surprise flickered across her face as the doors open and she recognized the person inside.

"Olivia, when did you get back?" Casey Novak asked with a smile.

"Yesterday," Olivia answered with a sigh. "Going to lunch?"

"Yes. Would you like to join me?"

"Oh no, I'm meeting…somebody…"

Casey turned to her, a dangerous grin on her face, "Oh really?"

"Uh-huh."

"Who might this be?"

"None of your business," Olivia said half jokingly.

"Aha, touchy. What would you do if I followed you to your date?"

"Who said anything about a date?"

"Just answer the question."

"Blackmail you," Olivia said casually.

"You don't have anything to blackmail me with," Casey responded confidently.

"Remember that one night Calvin was on a paparazzi spree?"

Casey's eyes narrowed. "Point taken."

"Thank you," Olivia said shooting her friend a smile before leaving the elevator right as the doors pulled open.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Olivia pulled up to the café on full alert so Marcus couldn't surprise her again. No way, no how. She saw him pull in to the parking space in front of her, so she got out and walked over to the curb to wait. He grinned at her as he got of his car and walked over. "Hi," He told her, giving her a light hug. Olivia wrapped her arms around his waist slightly before he pulled away. "Shall we?" He asked her, grabbing the door. She smiled at him before walking into the familiar restaurant.

"If you want to go sit at a table I can order for you," He told her. "What would you like?"

"Hm…the garden salad."

"Okay." He moved to get in line while Olivia went to sit at a table.

She sat facing the door so she could watch him from the line. There was only one person ahead of him, but that person was taking forever and kept changing his mind. Marcus turned to her and made a face, causing Olivia to laugh. She received some strange looks from other customers around her, but Marcus grinned at her before stepping up to order.

He returned minutes later, carrying a tray. He set her salad down in front of her, and a glass of water. He then set a turkey sandwich and another glass of water in front of his seat before putting the tray on another table and sitting down. "What time is the surprise party tomorrow?"

"Like…five. I'll set up while Calvin's at school, then Elliot will be there letting people in while I keep Calvin busy after school."

"Very smart," Marcus admired. "What would he like for his birthday?"

"You don't have to get him anything," Olivia assured.

"I know, but I want to. Ah, I know just what to get him."

Olivia narrowed her eyes, "What?"

"Nu-uh. You might accidently give it away. I'm not telling."

"That's not fair."

"Sure it is!"

Olivia huffed.

"What do you think about marriage?" He asked suddenly.

"What?" Olivia asked, eyes widening.

"Oh, that wasn't like a proposal or anything," Marcus stuttered, blushing deeply. "Not that I wouldn't, I mean…" He took a deep breath. "Are you against it?"

"Against marriage? No, I'd like to get married someday," Olivia answered slowly.

"Have you ever been married before?"

"No."

"Me neither."

"That's good to know," Olivia told him jokingly.

"Extremely."

"So… you spent the afternoon with Calvin Saturday?"

"Yes, I hope that was okay," Marcus told her.

"More than fine, he had a great time. Almost can't stop talking about it," Olivia said with a smile.

"That's great," Marcus responded, seeming thrilled. "He's a great kid… I really enjoy spending time with him. And you, of course," He added with a slightly bashful grin.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I can speak for Calvin when I say we really like you too…"

Marcus reached for her hand across the table and held it with his lightly. "You really want to know what I want to get him? I would like to run it by you first of course."

"_Yes._"

"Well I was thinking…"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Before Olivia knew it, it was the Friday of the party. Time had flown by; most of Olivia's free time was spent making sure Calvin didn't find his present's Olivia had hid. And lucky for her, he never looked in her top dresser drawer.

She had just picked Calvin up from school, and was taking him to the grocery store, to pick up some things, though the real reason was so Elliot could finish preparing the apartment and get everyone situated before they got back.

"Why are we here again?" Calvin asked as they walked into the super market.

"To pick up some stuff for the weekend." It was getting extremely hard not to let the surprise slip to Calvin, but Olivia refused to ruin the surprise.

"Why didn't we go to the movies like we always do? Marcus could've come…"

"Nothing good is there, remember? And Marcus already had plans," Olivia told him, laughing slightly to herself.

"Oh," He responded, disappointment clouding his face.

"Aw, come on, cheer up!" Olivia said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. She realized with a jolt that he came up to her shoulder now. "Why don't you pick out some junk for when Eric and George come over tomorrow?" Olivia had told him that George and Eric could come over for his birthday before she thought of the surprise party, they were spending Saturday night with them at the apartment.

"Okay…" He swerved towards the junk aisle. Grabbing a bag of Oreo's and a bag of Goldfish. "Can we get some pizza rolls too?"

"Whatever you want, we can get."

"_Sweet_," Calvin quickly handed the junk to Olivia before rushing towards the frozen food aisle.

"_Calvin,_" Olivia called out, rushing to follow him. She went down the aisle and froze; he wasn't there. "Calvin," She called out, looking around. Olivia started looking at all of the people that passed. She walked back towards the junk food aisle, thinking he might have come back the other way, thinking she was waiting there. He wasn't down that aisle either. Panic started to set in and Olivia forced herself to take a deep breath. Suddenly…

"Boo!" Calvin yelled, poking her in the back sharply.

Olivia spun around. "_Calvin Benson,_" She scolded.

Calvin started laughing, "You should have seen your face." He looked up at her face and stopped laughing at her expression. "What's wrong?"

She cupped his face with her free hand, "Don't you _ever_ scare me like that again, okay?"

He leaned forward and gave her a quick hug, "Sorry. I was just kidding around." He held up a box, "I got the pizza rolls. And…" He picked up a bottle he had dropped. "And a coke, that's all I could think of."

"You ready to go then?" Olivia asked, still trying to slow down her racing heart.

"Yup," He nodded, making a popping sound when he pronounced the p.

"Let's go home then," She smiled, leading him towards the checkout lines.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Calvin panted as they were climbing the flights of stairs to their apartment. Olivia was currently about ten steps below Olivia, who was already standing on the level of the apartment.

"You'll see. Now hurry up!"

Calvin groaned before quickly climbing the last few steps. He followed her to their apartment. Olivia unlocked the door with her key before turning towards him. "Here, hand me the bags, then go inside."

"Where are you going?" He questioned, handing her the two grocery bags.

"I'll be right behind you," She assured. "Go on in."

Calvin gave her a confused look before turning the hand, opening the door and walking inside. He flipped the light on as he went in. A handful of people jumped out from behind various places and yelled, "_Surprise!_"


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Chapter two of the day! Tomorrow's chapter is the laaaast one. I realized while writing this chapter, that I had completely left out Elliot Junior…I was going to add him in during this chapter, but then decided that's pointless. So he doesn't exist in this story, haha. Everything goes to its rightful owners, enjoy!**

**Updated: Forgot to add, Go check out Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell's story, **_**Absent Love**_** that I beta if you haven't already have. I'm not going to spoil anything, but it's about to get REALLY good ;-)**

Calvin stood there in shock, his mouth hanging wide open. He looked back at Olivia who started laughing at his expression. "You _knew_ about this?" He demanded, a wide grin spreading across his face as he glanced at all the people around the room, Elliot, Dickie, Lizzie, Casey Novak, Fin, Munch, Michael, and Marcus.

"I _planned_ it," Olivia told her son with a grin.

Calvin turned to wrap his arms tightly around her waist, "You're the greatest mom _ever._"

A soft smile touched her face and she ruffled his hair affectionately. "Go enjoy your party."

He grinned at her before walking over to his guests. "Happy birthday, Calvin," was echoed several times. Each time Calvin's smile grew bigger. "Thanks for coming," He responded sincerely.

"Hey, kid. We gotta go," Fin said to Calvin, gesturing to Munch, Casey, and himself. "We, uh, technically didn't get permission to leave… Don't party too hard," He finished, slapping his shoulder.

"Our presents are on the table," Casey told him with a wink before following the detectives out.

Calvin's eyes drifted over towards the table where several presents were wrapped and waiting, he looked over to Olivia who was chatting with Marcus. He walked over to them and waited patiently. She finally turned to him, "Yes?" She asked him with a knowing smile.

"Can I…open the presents now?"

"You don't want cake first?"

"No. That can wait."

"So can presents," Olivia countered.

"_Please._"

"Alright, alright," Olivia said giving in. "Go on ahead."

He rushed over to the table. "Who's this one from?" He asked, picking up three rectangles wrapped in blue paper, tied together.

"That one's from us," Dickie piped up.

Calvin grinned at him before ripping up all three of them at once. He held up the contents, three PSP games. "Thanks!" He turned to the next one, a small package, wrapped in orange paper.

"That's from me and Uncle Marc!" Michael yelled out.

Calvin opened it slower than the first one, when he got the paper off; there was a box which he opened carefully. He studied what was inside for a second before nearly dropping it.

"What's in it, Cal?" Olivia asked, sharing a knowing look with Marcus.

"They…they… they _gave me baseball tickets to the next pro game!_"

Elliot whistled, "Wow."

Calvin looked over to Marcus, "I could hug you…but I'll leave that to mom."

Olivia narrowed her eyes at Calvin as Marcus laughed next to her. Calvin quickly changed the subject before she could say anything, "Mom, now I need a mitt so I can catch a ball at the game!"

"Why don't you open your last one," She told him. "That one's from me."

Calvin turned towards the large present wrapped in red. He tore it open and fist pumped as he discovered all of the baseball equipment, and the new PSP game. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He said excitedly, nearly tackling her with a hug.

"Glad you like it," She told him.

"Like? More like _love_."

"Here," Elliot said, handing Calvin a stack of cards that were left on the table. "I think these are from Casey, Fin, and Munch."

"Ah," Calvin responded, quickly pulling open each card. "Money!" He said giddily, his eyes lighting up.

"You're rich now," Dickie commented with a grin.

"Sixty dollars," Calvin said to Olivia, waving it around.

"Want me to hold it for you?" She held out her hand.

"Only if you promise not to spend it," He said seriously.

"I promise not to spend your money."

"Okay," He handed her the three twenty dollar bills. "Can we have cake now?"

Elliot walked over to the kitchen counter, bringing the cake over to the table. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a lighter and quickly lit the thirteen candles that were on the cake.

Everyone gathered around the table as Calvin went to stand in front of the cake. A chorus of Happy Birthday was sung and Calvin shut his eyes for a minute, making his wish. He reopened his eyes and blew out the candles in one breath.

"Birthday boy gets first piece," Olivia told him, picking up a knife to cut the cake. "Which piece do you want?"

"The corner piece, with all of the icing!"

"How did I know you were going to get that one?" Olivia said, cutting the piece and handing it to him. Then she cut two more rows of pieces and handed them out.

"That was good," Calvin said satisfied as Olivia handed him a napkin to wipe off his red stained mouth.

"You look like you're wearing lipstick," Michael kidded.

"So do you," Calvin said smirking. He turned to Marcus, "When's the game?"

"Two weeks," Marcus answered. "Think you'll be ready to catch a home run ball by then?"

Calvin nodded enthusiastically.

"Good, I'm glad you like them."

"Uncle, Marc?" Michael asked. "We should get going so I won't be late to practice."

"Oh, right," Marcus turned to Olivia. "Baseball practice," He explained. "Sorry to have to leave early on you, Calvin."

"No problem," He assured. "Have fun at practice, thanks for the tickets and for coming!"

"Thanks for inviting us," Michael said, walking to the door.

Olivia followed them to let them out. Calvin turned to Elliot, Dickie and Lizzie. He put a finger over his mouth before reaching for another piece of cake.

"Calvin Benson!" Olivia called from the door. "Don't even think about it."

Calvin turned to Elliot, "How'd she do that?"

"She's got eyes in the back of her head," He answered.

"Yeah, right." They heard the door close before Olivia walked back in.

"Did you have fun?" She asked Calvin.

"Yeah, best party I've ever had." He looked up as Elliot pulled his keys out of his pocket. "You guys leaving too?"

"We better," Elliot told him. "Kathy and I are going out."

"Here, take some of this cake," Olivia offered, handing him a few slices.

"Don't mind if I do," Dickie said grabbing them before walking to the door. "Happy Birthday, Cal."

"Thanks!"

"See you around," Elliot said with a wave before walking with his kids out the door. Olivia walked behind them and relocked it. She came and sat besides Calvin at the table. She dipped her finger in the icing of the cake and stuck it into her mouth.

"_Hey,_ you told me I'm not allowed to do that!" Calvin said.

"Well I'm an adult."

"So? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Fine, my hands are clean, yours aren't."

"It's _my_ cake."

"Fine, go ahead."

Calvin looked at her suspiciously, "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

At her encouraging nod, he reached over with two fingers and ran them across the side of the cake. He licked it off and reached back to get more.

"Nu-uh!" Olivia said grabbing his arm, "You can only do it once. Or else you'll get spit all over the cake."

"I already did that when I blew out the candles."

Olivia wrinkled her nose slightly, debating the information. "Very true. Okay, but don't be complaining when you have a massive stomach ache later."

"I'll feel fine after I throw up," He answered, getting more frosting.

"You are _such_ a boy," She said with a grin.

"That's why you love me."

"That's _one _reason I love you, yes."

"What are others?"

"There's too many," She said with a smile.

"We have all day."

"True. Okay, well there's…"


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Here it is… the last chapter. Extremely bittersweet moment for me…but I finished just in time for the new episode tonight! I am truly grateful for all the reviews this have received, thank you ALL. And especially a thank you to the reviewers and readers who have stuck with me since Home. Don't forget to stay tuned to Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell's stories, **_**Absent Love**_** and the sequel that's coming! Enjoy the last chapter, everything goes to its rightful owners.**

_One year later…_

Olivia's throat was rubbed raw from all the screaming she had been doing the past two hours. And a throbbing head from the adrenaline… but if you guessed it was from her job, guess again. The cause? Middle school baseball. Yes, Olivia didn't normally like baseball, but things change when your _son_ is on the team. Oh yes, when it came to watching Calvin play, Olivia was a baseball _fanatic. _

She had checked into the baseball program a few months after his twelfth birthday, and he was enrolled a few months later. His first season had started up a few months ago, and tonight was the last game. His team, the Cardinal's, were in the playoffs against the Tiger's. The score was 7 to 5, with the Tiger's in the lead.

The Tiger's were at the bat, and Calvin was out in the outfield, wearing what he called his 'lucky glove.' His lucky glove was the same glove Olivia had given him for his twelfth birthday, only when Marcus had taken him to the baseball game, he had caught the winning game ball, and ever since then it was his lucky glove that was reserved for special games.

One of the Tiger's hit the ball and it soared towards the outfield. Olivia rose off her seat on the bleachers as Calvin got under the ball as it started to fall. _Perfect Catch._

"_Atta boy, Calvin!_" She heard Marcus, the coach, yell from somewhere to her right on the field. Calvin grinned in his direction and looked over at Olivia. She sent him two thumbs up and a huge grin. Calvin turned his focus back to the game as the next batter stepped up to the plate. The batter striked out, this made three outs so the Tiger's ran out onto the field as the Cardinal's ran back off of the field to bat.

Michael, Marcus' nephew, was up to bat first. Olivia clapped for him as he got into position. Cheering erupted around her as Michael hit the ball and ran towards first base. His foot hit the base right before the ball was thrown to the player guarding first base.

Another player from the Cardinal's stepped up to bat, and striked out. A third player stepped up, and hit the ball far enough so that Michael has able to run to third base, and the third player made it to second base. A fourth player stepped up, and striked out as well. Olivia's nerves started to run high again, as she watched Calvin get ready to step up to bat. If he striked out three times, the game would end and the Tiger's would win. She would be left with a _very_ grumpy thirteen year old teenager. On the other hand, if Calvin hit the ball, far enough so that Michael and his other teammate could score, they still had a chance to win, if not tie.

"You can do it, Calvin!" Olivia called out.

He got into position, the ball was thrown, he missed. He rolled his shoulder and got into position again, the second ball was thrown, he missed again. Olivia could tell Calvin was getting stressed and extremely frustrated with himself. He ran a hand over his face before looking over in her direction. She shot him an encouraging smile as he turned back and got into position for the third time. He relaxed the bat onto his right shoulder, took a deep breath, and turned his head so that he was looking straight down at the ball. He nodded and the third ball was thrown. _Clunk!_ The ball flew over the back fence of the field. An automatic home run, all of the Cardinal's supports in the stands were up on their feet and cheering as Michael and the other teammate passed home base. Calvin jogged around the bases, a wide grin on his still somewhat boyish face. He waved at her as he passed where she sat. He passed over home base and was instantly mobbed by his teammates and the coaches. They all threw their red uniform caps up into the air and Marcus and one of the assistant coaches lifted Calvin up onto their shoulders. Two more assistant coaches came up behind the three and dumped the remaining water from the coolers onto them.

Olivia laughed as Calvin ran his hand through his wet hair then flicked it into Marcus' face. She walked off the bleachers and onto the field. She waited as Calvin and Marcus packed up and grabbed their gear. Calvin jogged ahead of Marcus towards Olivia and held out his arms.

"You want a hug?" He teased, trying to wrap his soaking wet arms around her.

"Ha, oh no," She told him smiling, holding him by his shoulders at arm's length. Marcus came and stood beside them. "Hey," She greeted him, holding out her left hand to hold his.

"Hey yourself," He responded with a soft smile, bringing up her left hand to kiss her fourth finger, where a small diamond engagement ring was currently resting.

"Aw, gross," Calvin kidded.

"Oh, hush," Olivia told him, bringing her and Marcus' entwined hands back down by their sides. "I saw you with the girl after school yesterday, you know, but I was nice and didn't say anything about it."

Calvin's face became a deep crimson, "Mom," He groaned.

"I would like to meet her," She told him, reaching up to ruffle his hair. He was now about her height, and would soon be taller than her. His voice was getting deeper too.

He pushed his semi long hair out of his eyes. "Maybe."

"That's not the correct answer," Olivia told him, acting offended as the three of them made their way to the parking lot. "You made me let you meet Marcus."

"But that's _different_," He reasoned. "He was possibly going to become my dad. Melanie isn't going to become my _wife_."

Triumph flashed across Olivia's face. "Melanie huh?"

Calvin clamped his mouth shut.

"Marcus, do _you_ know any eighth grade girls names Melanie?" Olivia asked, turning to her fiancée, who was still the principal at the middle school.

After catching the pleading look Calvin sent him, Marcus said with a sly smile, "I'm not really sure."

"Way to gang up on me," Olivia grumbled. "I'm really glad Abby is a girl, or else I would be the only girl the apartment in a few weeks. I don't know how I'd live."

"That's why I need a sister," Calvin said with a grin.

Olivia stopped in her tracks and glared at Calvin. He grinned at Marcus who was watching Olivia nervously.

"Told you I know just what to say to get her to act a certain way, you owe me ten bucks," Calvin held his hand out to Marcus.

"I uh-" Marcus stuttered as Olivia turned to him, a questioning eyebrow raised. "I was curious…"

"Uh-huh."

"Pizza anyone?" Marcus offered, changing the subject.

"Yes!" Calvin agreed. "Olivia?"

"Pizza sounds great," She agreed.

"Pizza it is," Marcus told them, taking Calvin's gear and walking ahead to the car to put it up.

Calvin wrapped an arm around Olivia's shoulders as they followed him.

"You stink," Olivia commented.

"Well, I did just win a baseball game…"

"You sure have a big ego," She kidded.

"Yup," He responded. "I hear I inherit it from my mom…"

Olivia reached up and smacked the back of his head.

"I didn't even feel that."

"I'll use my club next time…"

Calvin backed away, faking shock, "That is verbal _abuse_, Miss Benson. You're supposed to help victims, not make them!"

"None of those victims are my _son,_" She retorted, walking to the passenger side of the car.

"True that," Calvin said with a grin, climbing in the back seat as Marcus started the car. "If the were, then I would already have a sibling and you wouldn't have to think about getting or having one now and we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"_Calvin,_" Olivia groaned as they drove off.


End file.
